Complex Labyrinthine Conundrums of a Boyhood Problem
by calwell
Summary: (Title is from a quote by Phil Shortman.) Set years after FTI, Helga and Arnold are about to reach their final year in highschool. They weren't friends, they barely spoke to each other minus the occasional greeting in school but all that is about to change when Helga G. Pataki moves into the Sunset Arms.
1. The New Tenant

**The New Tenant**

"Hey Grandpa," yawned a football headed teenager as he walked down onto the main floor. He saw an elderly man with suspenders, moving boxes from the opened front door to an empty room on the 3rd. He saw multitudes of boxes and a few suitcases near the stoop. "Do we have a new tenant?" he asked curiously. They hadn't had a new tenant in a few years now, not since some college student who had rented the room for a couple of months.

"Sure do, short man!" said Phil as he hoisted another box onto the box under his arm. "Get that, will ya?"

Arnold moved to grab a large box. This one didn't have a lid to it and to assuage his curiosity, he peered in but saw mostly books – 'Catcher in the Rye', 'The Summer of my German Soldier', 'Wuthering Heights'. _This person is well read_ thought Arnold as he followed his grandpa to the rooms at the back of the boarding house. He looked down again curious to see what else the unnamed tenant enjoyed reading and noticed a small pink journal wedged between 'The Poetry of Walt Whitman' and 'The Lord of the Flies'. Arnold was tempted to look into it but then shook his head, knowing full well that an invasion into a stranger's property was not an appropriate thing to do, especially since that stranger would be a new tenant in his grandparents' boarding house.

"Uh so who is the new tenant, grandpa?" asked Arnold as he set the boxes of the books down into the floor, next to the bed.

"You'll see her when you see her, short man," said Phil as he made his way back to the front of the house.

"A girl?" asked Arnold from behind him.

"Sure is! At least, I think she is. Never know now-a-days," he chuckled to himself. He eyed the rest of the boxes.

"Where is she?" he asked just noticing that the tenant wasn't the one moving in her things.

"Oh she'll be along soon. She's just helping her parents with their move."

Something in that sentence sounded familiar to Arnold. He had assumed the new tenant was an adult. "I don't understand, grandpa. Are you saying she's moving out of her house somewhere in Hillwood?"

"That's right, short man!" Phil heaved as he lifted a particularly large box. Arnold jumped in and took it from him.

A large grumbling sound suddenly filled the room as his grandpa clutched his stomach. He started making his way to the bathroom as he called back behind him, "Be a good man and finish moving those boxes. Oh my stomach, why'd I eat that raspberry custard Pookie made?"

Nonplussed by the common routine of his grandpa's bathroom habits, Arnold continued to move the boxes into the room. _Who could she be?_ he thought. The situation, though it could be applied to anyone, had sounded oddly familiar and a memory itched at the back of his head.

…

"You sure you want to do this, Helga?" They stood on the street next to an empty Brownstone that had been Helga's home for the past 17 years.

Helga rolled her eyes. "For the umpteenth time, Bob, yeah I'm sure!"

Big Bob Pataki looked down at his youngest daughter. She had grown quite a bit in the past few years, she was looking a lot more like Olga but he wasn't fooled. He knew what she was made of. He nodded but his gaze was just a touch softer, "Well, you call us if anything happens."

An awkward silence fell between them. Helga looked up. He was a neglectful jerk but he was allowing her to finish school with her friends and when it all came down to it, he was still her father. She rubbed the back of her neck. "Uh thanks, dad. I will."

"Alright, Helga," said a voice behind them. A woman in glasses appeared in front of Helga and hugged her tight, "I'm going to miss you, honey. You will call us every night, okay?"

Helga let out a small laugh, "sure, Miriam, I mean… mom."

They both got in the car, Bob in the driver's seat and Miram next to him. Miram looked back and waved as he put the car on drive. "Every night, okay honey?" she called out again as the car started on the road.

Helga rolled her eyes.

Bob's voice boomed, "You heard your mother, every night!"

And she felt oddly lonely as Helga watched her parents drive away.

...

Having moved all the boxes and luggage into the room, Arnold had hoped to stick around to see a glimpse of the mysterious new comer when he suddenly remembered that he had plans. He rushed back to this room for a change of clothes and ran toward the front door, saying as he did, "Heading out, grandma! Will be back after dinner."

"Alright, young grasshopper, make sure avoid the hungry alligators on Meat Street." Her laughed sounded almost like a cackle.

"Uh sure thing, grandma." He shut the door on the way out.

It was only about a 10 minute drive to the theatres and as Arnold parked the Packard, he saw a familiar face waiting near the entrance.

"Hey man, you made it. You were cutting it close there, my brother." Gerald grinned as they greeted each other with their handshake. He nodded at Sid and Stinky.

"Sorry. There's a new tenant coming."

"Another monster?"

They had had awful tenants in the past. Arnold shook his head. "I don't know yet. I haven't seen her."

"Her? A girl? Just her?"

"Yeah, apparently she's moving in by herself."

Gerald grinned, "You think it could be a college girl? You gonna ask her out if it is?"

Arnold chuckled, "We're still in high school, Gerald."

"So? Older chicks dig young hot dudes like us."

"Gee willikers, Arnold. A college girlfriend," sighed Stinky.

"Yeah Arnold, I wouldn't have thought you had it in you," chimed Sid, slapping him on the back.

"Guys, I don't even know if she's a college student yet. And even if she is, what kind of landlord's grandson asks out a tenant?"

They purchased their tickets to 'The Bloodletting II' and headed into the theatres as Gerald replied with a delayed response.

"Mm mm mm! Arnold Shortman, ever the gentleman."

…

Helga made her way back to Sunset Arms but was surprised to see that her stuff was no longer on the sidewalk right outside the boarding house. Confused, she walked up the stoop and knocked.

Arnold's grandmother opened the door; she was wearing a scuba suit with snorkel fins and a mask. "Eleanor dear! Won't you come in! I was just about to go diving to the depths to find the gigantic narwal." She smiled at Helga, "do you care to join me?"

She recognized the reference to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. "Uh…"

"Pookie, who is that?" came a voice from the kitchen and Phil stuck his head out. "Oh, Arnold's little friend!"

"Uh yeah, hi. Did you see my stuff, by any chance?" she asked him from the door way.

"Oh Arnold and I moved all your stuff to your room," said Phil as Gertie made her way into the kitchen.

"O-oh. Thanks," said Helga awkwardly. "Uh, where is Arnold? I'd like to thank him too."

Phil shrugged. "I don't know. Pookie, do you know?" he asked his wife as she filled the empty sink with water.

"Kimba is out with the alligators." She hadn't looked up.

"Uh, okay." Helga took that to mean that he was out.

"That crazy coot," said Phil. "Oh that's right," he fished into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. "These are for you. This key here is the one to the front door and this one is the one to your room. Bathroom for all tenants is on the second floor but the private bathroom your parents paid for is right next to your room." He smiled at her, "Oh and don't you worry, I didn't tell short man there that you were moving in."

"Oh uh thanks," Helga stammered, a little confused. "I'm going to head to my room." Taking the keys from him, she walked out of the kitchen and as she turned the corner she heard from behind her the strong female voice of Gertie "I ask no more than to live a hundred years longer, that I may have more time to dwell the longer in your memory!"

Then came a loud splash followed by Phil's voice "Oh pookie! How many times do I have to tell you not to jump into the sink with those flippers on!"

…

"Hey grandpa, I'm home."

"That you, short man?" came a voice from the kitchen.

Arnold walked into the kitchen, "yeah." He turned to the older lady in a karate suit, her palms together in front of her face and her eyes closed. "Hey grandma." He walked pass her without even a blink and opened the fridge door.

"Where'd you go, short man?" his grandpa asked having gone back to reading that day's paper.

Arnold pulled out a Chinese container and placed it on the table as he searched for a fork in the cupboard. "I went to the movies with Gerald and a few other friends." He sat down and started eating the chicken lo mein.

Phil's brow rose, "Didn't eat dinner?"

Arnold blushed a light pink. "Uh, no we did. I was just hungry again."

Phil chuckled and nodded. "When I was your age, I ate my family out of house and home."

Arnold let out a light chuckle, "Sure, grandpa."

A large plate of raspberry custard was placed on the table in front of him. "He needs lots of food if young kimba here is going to out into the wild on his own to complete his vision quest," said Gertie.

Arnold eyed the custard, having remembered his grandpa's trip to the bathroom earlier that day. "Uh no thanks, grandma."

"Oh that's right." Phil folded his paper and laid it down on the table. "The new tenant is here."

Arnold looked up, a little excited. "She is?"

"Yup, she's in that room of hers. Hasn't come out since Pookie over here nearly drowned me in the sink."

Arnold ate another forkful of noodles. "Are you going to tell me who she is?"

"No can do, short man. You'll see her soon enough." Phil stood up, stretching and looked at the clock. It was almost 10:30. "Well look at the time! Gotta hit the hay, Pookie." He patted Arnold on the shoulder as he walked out of the kitchen toward their bedroom.

Gertie smiled at Arnold as she gave him a light kiss on the forehead, "goodnight, kimba," and followed her husband out into the hall.

…

Arnold, like most of his 17 year old peers, was constantly hungry. Standing at almost 6 feet, he had shot up several inches in the past year alone. His body was working overtime to compensate for the shortness that had plagued him most of his life. And that was the reason why at 2:45 AM, his stomach growled like a terrible monster, and subsequently prevented Arnold from getting any sleep.

He groaned and rolled off the bed. This was becoming a near constant thing now, his stomach's need to wake him up in the middle of the night but it didn't mean he was getting used to it. Thank god, it was still the summer break otherwise; he'd be falling asleep in his classes and any consequences that came with it.

He rubbed his eyes as he made his way down stairs. He had slept for only about an hour after having texted with his friends and spent a few hours on his computer but his stomach had woken him. He thought had had enough food before he had headed to his room earlier that night but apparently his body had not agreed.

Arnold made his way down toward the kitchen but when he turned the corner, he stopped. The light was on, sending a warm glow into the hallway where he stood. In all the years he had gone down to get a snack in the middle of the night, no one had ever been there except perhaps the time, his grandpa had thought the British were coming in his sleep and had barricaded the dining room door with watermelons. He then noticed soft humming coming from the room.

Tentatively Arnold stuck his head through the door way that led into the kitchen and froze. A young woman's back was facing him, medium length blond hair hung in waves behind her back. From what he could see, she wore a white shirt that stopped at her hip and a pair of dark navy shorts. She was slim but shapely. Her legs were long and Arnold couldn't help but draw his gaze through the length of them. He felt his face heat up in a terrible blush and turned his attention instead to see what she was doing.

She looked as though she was making a sandwich, an open bag of bread sat on the counter next to her as well as the container of ham and cheese and an open tub of mayonnaise. She shifted slightly and Arnold almost panicked but instead of turning toward him, she reached for the mustard on the counter. It was then that he saw the side of her face…

"Helga!" he almost yelled, startled out of his wits.

The girl in the kitchen jumped nearly a foot and turned quickly around. Her hand was placed over her heart and his eyes were drawn momentarily to a rather womanly part of her. "Christ, football head!" Her whisper was sharp as her heart beat wildly in her chest. "Give a little warning next time."

Arnold's eyes were still wide, still unbelieving. "What are you doing here?"

She cocked her head and a brow rose. "What do you mean what am I doing here? I live here."

"Y-you what?"

"I live here," she repeated.

And then it hit him. "You're the new tenant."

"Doi. Are you just going to stand there and whispered _loudly_ at me across the room?"

"Huh?" Arnold realized he was still in the hall. He walked into the kitchen. "I don't understand, Helga. How are you the new tenant?"

Helga looked down at his lower half as he stopped only a few feet away from her and her brow rose again. "Nice look." Arnold looked down quickly and felt another blush stain his cheeks. He was in his boxers. He sat down quickly at the table to hide it from her view.

He heard her snigger as she turned back to her sandwich. "Want one?" she asked over her shoulder.

Arnold didn't respond right away, still trying to get over what remained of his shock. A plate was placed in front of him and he saw that Helga had made him a sandwich. That was strange. Arnold looked up.

"I'm surprised your grandparents didn't tell you I was here," said Helga as she sat herself across from him, immediately biting into her sandwich.

Arnold looked back down to his plate. "My grandpa wouldn't tell me who the new tenant was." He saw her brows knot in question. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked her, taking a tentative bite of his sandwich. It was good.

Helga rolled her eyes. "Well we're not exactly friends, football head. And we're on break," she shrugged, "I didn't have your phone number."

He shot her a look, "you could have told me while we were in school."

She shrugged, "I didn't know this was gonna to happen." When Arnold met that with silence, she continued. "Sheesh football head, alright I'll tell ya. Big Bob invested in cell phones a while back as you probably won't remember and because he got into the market early, he was given the opportunity to sell these things called smart phones." She looked at him and waved her hand, "I don't really know what they are, didn't ask. Anyways, he heading over to California right now to sign the deal and part of the deal was that his first store had to be opened in California. So as of this moment, he and Miriam are on their way to the Golden State."

Arnold had actually vaguely remembered someone telling him that Bob had gotten a huge offer and that they were moving but he supposed that it hadn't registered then. He had Helga had barely spoken to each other in the past few years partly due to the fact that their schedules rarely coincided and because well, she was still Helga. "But why are _you_ here, Helga?"

Helga took another bite and swallowed. "I'm getting to that. Sheesh! Hold your horses. Them moving meant I would have had to move but its senior year next year and I'm already going to college in New York so it didn't make much sense." She felt her eyes suddenly avoid his gaze, "Plus, it's not like I can leave Pheobe behind during this crucial period of her life. You know with college and Gerald finally making his move, the poor girl is about to have a meltdown."

Arnold had stopped eating a while ago. Helga noticed he had finished his sandwich; she looked down at her own. She still had half of it left. "So you decided to stay here?" he asked her.

She shrugged again, "Not many other places I could stay being under aged and all. Plus, my parents know your grandparents so there really wasn't much of a choice." Was he that unhappy to see her?

"Huh." Arnold was quiet for a moment but then he stood, moving to place his empty dish in the sink. He turned back to her and there was that kind, wide smile she had grown accustomed to seeing when they were kids and had desperately missed when they had started high school. "Well I'm glad, Helga. I hope you like it here." She nodded.

"Well uh, thanks for the sandwich," he said awkwardly as he made his way to the hallway.

"Yeah no problem, football head," she replied but he had already left the room.

...

 **Writer's Notes** : Hello! This was my first "Hey Arnold" piece. I don't own "Hey Arnold!" but I've loved it since I first saw it in the 90s. A child myself, I grew up with these characters. This story is just my telling of how Arnold and Helga finally get together. I will be as true as possible to the characters we know and love.


	2. What Makes a Friend

**Writer's Notes** : Sorry, this one is a little long! I wanted us to get a bit of a glimpse into the lives of Gerald and Phoebe, albeit through Arnold and Helga. Hence, why they show up so much here and will continue to do so in future chapters. Thank you for your reviews!

...

 **What Makes a Friend**

"Helga is living in the boarding house?" Gerald stood still in the middle of the basketball court, his body still in position to throw the basketball in his hands as he stared back at his best friend. "You're kidding, right? We talking about the same Helga G. Pataki? Blonde hair, tall, scowling?"

"Yeah, Gerald." Arnold took the ball from his friend's outstretched hand and started dribbling it to the opposite court.

Gerald shook his head and followed. "What is she doing there?" he asked incredulously.

Arnold shrugged. "Her parents are moving to California for some phone deal and she wanted to stay for her last year."

"Well I guess that makes sense but that is strange, my man. Helga G. Pataki. You've barely even spoken to her since middle school."

Arnold attempted a shot; the ball circled the rim once, twice, and fell off to the side. "Yeah, I know." He paused for a second, thinking, "Why don't we ever talk to her anymore? We talked to pretty much everyone else."

Gerald picked up the ball, which had rolled to the edge of the court and shook his head. "Who knows? It just kind of stopped, I guess. I mean its Helga, she was never your biggest fan and maybe when she got the opportunity to put some space between you two, she took it."

That stung a little but Arnold admitted that it made sense.

Gerald continued, giving him a look. "Not like it matters, right? Did you even notice? I mean, you rarely ever brought her up."

 _That's not true_ thought Arnold. Could he have possibly never noticed that someone who was so prevalent in his early years had practically stopped being in his life? Arnold suddenly realized that he had hardly thought on it, it had become almost natural for him not to see her. He frowned, he didn't like that. Could he have possibly been so callous? Had Helga noticed?

A hand was waving in his face, snapping Arnold out of his thoughts. Gerald was looking at him with a brow raised, "Where'd you go, man? One minute we were talking and then off you went to la la land." He gave him another look and took a shot; the ball went through the hoop. "Anyways, like I was saying. It's not like she stopped talking to the whole group. Phoebe says she hangs out with almost everyone, even Herald and Rhonda."

"Really?" Arnold found that hard to believe.

"Yeah, just last weekend when I called Phoebe to hang out she said she and Helga had plans with them and Nadine and Sheena at the pier." He shrugged, "I guess it's just 'cause we never have classes with her or somethin'."

"Right." But still Arnold didn't like the thought of that. They had known each other since Urban Tots; Helga couldn't have just stopped talking to him because they were no longer in the same classes, right? But then, he had… "I wonder why they never asked us to join," Arnold said absentmindedly.

"Why do you care?" Gerald took another shot, this time it missed and Arnold watched as the ball rolled into the grass that surrounded the sides of the court. "I mean, all she ever did was bully you."

Arnold walked over to the ball but didn't pick it up. "Yeah but we were friends in a way."

Gerald gave him another funny look, "You're delusional, Arnold."

Arnold picked up the ball and threw it to him.

"Anyways, what'd you say when you saw her?"

Arnold felt an awful blush stain his cheeks as he remembered seeing her back through the kitchen doorway. When had she grown up so much?

A hand waved in his face again, "Seriously, man, why do you keep doing that?"

Arnold shook his head to push away his thoughts, "Sorry Gerald." Gerald rolled his eyes. "I actually saw her last night when I went down stairs to get a sandwich." Arnold noticed his face still felt a little warm and hoped Gerald didn't notice. "I asked her what she was doing there because my grandpa hadn't actually told me that she was the one who was moving in." He frowned at that.

But Gerald just shrugged. "You guys talk a lot? How was she?"

"She was nice, actually," said Arnold, a little surprised at his realization. "I mean she was still Helga. She still talked the same but there was no real…"

"What? Spite? Venom? Malice?"

Arnold laughed. "She wasn't that bad, Gerald." Gerald shrugged in response. "I guess 'cause I haven't spoken to her that long... anyways, it didn't feel weird. It felt like I was talking to the Helga I knew growing up."

Gerald took another shot. It went through the hoop. "Alright, whatever you say, Arnold. I just hope she doesn't bite off your head while you're sleeping."

…

"Hey Pheebs," said Helga as soon as she spotted the small Asian girl with glasses reading at a table at the far end of the library.

She looked up and smiled. "Why hello, Helga."

Helga pulled up a chair and sat down. "I don't know why you spend so much time in the library during summer break."

"The mind has to remain sharp even during times of rest. Studies have shown that summer break actually sets back the average student more than 40% of all they learned during the school year."

Helga smiled, having been used to nearly a decade and a half of Phoebe's facts. "Yeah, alright, Pheebs."

She turned back to the book and placed a book mark on the last page she was reading. She stood up. "I'm done here. Where would you like to go today, Helga?"

Helga shrugged, also standing. "No real preference, Pheebs." She looked at her friend and gave her a shrewd look. "You got your first date with Gerald tonight, right?"

Phoebe blushed. "Yes, he said he would pick me up around 8 tonight."

Helga's left brow rose. "What are you going to wear?"

Phoebe looked down at her current outfit; she was wearing a long dark blue sweater and black jeans. "Well I was thinking that this would be sufficient."

Helga shook her head. "You've been waiting for this guy to ask you out for what— 5 years now? We're going to the mall." She linked her arm around Phoebe's, who, at 5'3, stood nearly 6 inches shorter than her as she resolutely walked out of the library.

They arrived at the Hillwood Mall a few minutes later with Helga having driven Phoebe's car. They walked into a large clothing department store called Marcy and Helga had been walking around with Phoebe trailing her as she picked outfit after outfit for Phoebe to try.

"You'll look good in this," said Helga as she pulled out a high neck white blouse. "This will match your eyes." She then handed Phoebe a green dress. "This will surely make Geraldo go cross eyed." A black dress and on and on until Phoebe was nearly drowning in the pile of clothes in her arms.

"Alright, I think that should be enough to try on," said Helga as she led the way to the dressing rooms.

"Helga," called out Phoebe, her voice slightly muffled by the skirt in front of her face, "I'm certain Gerald—"

Helga suddenly pushed Phoebe into the dressing room, cutting off her words. "Whatever you're going to say, can it. Just try on those clothes and come out."

Helga heard a sigh from the other side of the closed door and smiled.

A minute later Phoebe came out with a low cut, sleeveless black dress and pair of black heels. Her knees were slightly bent inwards and she looked uncomfortable as she tried to push a strand of hair off her face.

"Hmm, you look good, Pheebs but it doesn't really suit you. Back in."

She came out again but this time wearing a large purple sweater and a black skirt. Helga shook her head, "looks too much like your usual wear."

Phoebe went back in and came out this time wearing a geometric shirt dress. Helga's face crunched up, "doesn't fit your bob."

Phoebe sighed, turning back around. This time however, when she came out, Helga smiled widely. "That's the look, Pheebs," she said immediately upon seeing her best friend.

Phoebe smiled partly out of relief and partly because Helga's sported a rather triumphant grin. Helga watched as Phoebe turned around and stopped. She grinned as Phoebe's eyes widened.

"It looks good, right?"

"I, uh, I would have to concur," responded Phoebe shyly. "But I have never worn anything like this before, Helga."

Helga shrugged and walked into the dressing room, staring at Phoebe's reflection. "Yeah but it still suits you, you know? You still look like Phoebe; you're just in a different set of clothes that highlights you better."

Phoebe fingered the white lace around the high collar of her white blouse. It was beautiful. The cuffs around her wrists sported the same lace and so did the buttons that ran along the front of the blouse. The skirt she wore had a pattern of soft grey and red flowers and it flared somewhat at her knees. The blouse was tucked into the skirt at the waist, giving it a tailored look that Phoebe agreed with. The outfit was very cute but…

"Enough, Pheebs." Helga's words cut through her thoughts. She looked at her friend through the mirror, she was rolling her eyes. "I don't understand why those thoughts go through that smart little noggin' of yours."

"Well Helga, you must admit, this type of wear isn't really what I'm normally seen in. It's a little too… perhaps feminine for me."

"Look, Pheebs, you're cute," Helga said bluntly. "You may always have your little nose in your books at all times but guys watch you."

Phoebe blinked.

"You think Gerald is the only one who wanted to ask you out? I mean come on, you're smart have you never noticed any of those other guys hanging around your locker or offering to take you to class? The only reason those other guys didn't ask you is because they're afraid of me." Helga flicked her wrist nonchalantly and scoffed. "Honestly, good riddance because some of those guys are too stupid for you anyways."

Phoebe blinked at her again and then again.

Helga grinned, "Look, Pheebs. You've liked Gerald since what— 6th grade? So your brain was probably always either on that or on, god forbid, your studies. You never really paid attention to anything else around you. You're not that little nerdy girl in grade school anymore who could easily hide behind her books and brain. You've got looks too, now we're giving you style. Gerald is going to die for this."

Phoebe looked back at her reflection in the mirror. "Do you really think so?"

Helga placed her arm on Phoebe's shoulder and leaned against her best friend as she looked at the two girls who were staring back at them through the mirror. "Abso-frickin-tootly."

…

Helga lounged on Phoebe's bed as Phoebe put the final touches to her outfit, staring at herself uncertainly in the mirror. "So Helga," she said turning to look at her friend, "You never told me about what happened when you moved into Arnold's boarding house."

"Huh?" Helga had been reading a magazine, which she promptly threw aside. She was lying on Phoebe's bed with her legs propped up against the wall. She craned her neck to look at Phoebe, upside down. "Oh right," she shrugged. "I didn't see the football head until he came out in the middle of the night and nearly scared me to death."

Phoebe didn't respond but her eyes were questioning.

Helga looked up at the ceiling and silence reined for a few more seconds before she continued. "It was kind of normal actually, when we were talking as if we hadn't just suddenly disappeared off of each other's existential plane. He remembered me at least."

"Helga," Phoebe said softly, "I'm sure Arnold would never forget you."

"Yeah, yeah. He didn't try very hard to stay on talking terms all throughout high school though."

"Yes, but neither did you, Helga. And you know that relationships require both participants if it is to remain existent."

Helga rolled her eyes. "Spare me, Pheebs."

There was only silence again but then Phoebe spoke up. "If you want your relationship to change this time, Helga, you need to work at it."

Helga groaned and swung her legs off the bed. "When is Geraldo supposed to get here anyway?"

Phoebe softly sighed, allowing the change of topic tactic that Helga often utilized when it came to the boy she had spent most of her life having feelings for. She looked up at the clock and stood up from her dressing table. "I believe he should be here shortly."

Helga walked over to her and grinned, "You're gonna break hairboy's _hair_ in that outfit."

Phoebe blushed. "If I hadn't already, Helga, I wanted to thank you for helping me pick this out."

Helga rolled her eyes, "Sheesh, Pheebs, you've thanked me about 10 times already. Geez, it's almost like you don't remember that I _forced_ you to get it."

Phoebe giggled but then heard a distinct knock coming from the front door.

"Looks like hairboy's here," said Helga, leaning out of the window, looking down.

The doorbell rang again. "She's coming! Sheesh!" she yelled as she and Phoebe made their way to the front door.

Helga opened the door and found herself face to face with a well-dressed Gerald. He was wearing a navy blazer, unbuttoned and a white long sleeve shirt over a pair of dark jeans.

"Looking good there, Geraldo," said Helga, leaning against the door frame.

Gerald's brows knotted. "Pataki, I didn't expect you to be here."

Helga shrugged, "Why are you so surprised? Phoebe is my best friend after all."

"Uh, right. Anyways, she ready yet?" He was holding a bouquet of pink and yellow dahlias in his hand.

Helga chuckled. "Don't tell me I'm making the great lady's man of Hillwood High nervous?" He glared at her and she grinned, "She'll be right along, hot stuff."

Phoebe walked up next to her and Helga watched as Gerald's eyes widened as he took in his date's appearance.

"Wow, Phoebe. Y-you look great!"

A pretty blush appeared on Phoebe's cheeks. "Thank you, Gerald. And may I say that you're looking pretty good yourself."

Gerald grinned widely but didn't say anything, still staring a bit dumbly at Phoebe.

Helga coughed, "Uh, hairboy, you going to give her the flowers or not?"

"Huh? What? Oh, right, right!" He gently placed the flowers in front of Phoebe's face. "These are for you."

"Why Gerald, these are beautiful. How did you know I like dahlias?"

Gerald shot her a cheeky grin. "You've liked them since the 6th grade."

Then there was silence again as the two awkwardly started staring at the ground. Helga rolled her eyes. This was nearly a decade in coming. "Alright, ya yutz! Time to go on your date now!" She started herding them to Gerald's parked car. "Now, Phoebe, I don't want you back before 11 and Gerald, I want her back before 2." She winked at them as they got into the car. She closed the passenger side door after Phoebe got in. She grinned, "Now enjoy yourself, ya revolting lovebirds."

Phoebe smiled, waving at her as Gerald put the car in reverse, sending them both down the road, down a path that had been a long time in coming.

…

Helga smiled at herself, happy for Phoebe as she made her way back to the Sunset Arms on foot. The day had been quite a success but with Phoebe on her date, she now had no plans. Summer break was only about 3 weeks in but already, Helga felt a bit bored. She had planned on spending most of her summer with Phoebe that was until she had told her that Gerald had finally asked her out. Now it looked like Helga would be spending a lot of the summer by herself.

Helga sighed, kicking a stone on the sidewalk. She supposed she could just go home and read a book or something. Or perhaps expand her mind like Phoebe said. She scoffed, yeah right; she'll probably just have a horror movie marathon night with a big bag of popcorns and chocolates.

She suddenly noticed she was standing in front of the Sunset Arms. She sighed again, well so much for a fun filled summer.

…

Arnold scratched his head and twirled on his chair. He was bored. School was over. It was summer break and his best friend was on a date with a girl he had liked since elementary school. His other friends were either out of town or had other plans.

He crossed his arms over his chest and stared up at the skylight then stared back at his phone, willing it to ring or beep with a text. But none came. It was only 8:30 and he was a teenager. Wasn't it against the laws of nature for a teenager during summer break to be bored? he thought. He twirled on his chair again and stood up suddenly.

There just had to be something he could do to keep himself from losing his mind. He made his way down to the kitchen and saw his grandpa, Oskar Kokoshka, Ernie Potts, and Mr. Hyunh, all longtime residents, gathered around a table playing poker. Phil looked up as Arnold entered the kitchen.

"Hey there, short man, want to play a hand?"

"No thanks, grandpa." Arnold walked over to the sink and poured himself a glass of water.

"What are you doing, Kokoshka? Stop looking at my cards!"

"I'm not looking at anything, grandpa," said Oskar, attempting at innocence.

"Stop calling me grandpa!"

"You look kind of listless there, Arnold" said Ernie, throwing a chip to the middle of the table, calling Hyunh's raise.

"Yes, Arnold, you look very bored," Hyunh agreed.

Arnold sat down next to Hyunh. "All my friends are busy so yeah, I am kind of bored."

"Bored?" came Phil's voice. "You're too young to be bored! It's summer break."

Arnold sighed, "I know, grandpa but I can't think of anything to do. I tried reading or going on my computer but nothing interests me."

"Hmm— Oskar, will you quit that!" He pulled his cards far away from Oskar's prying eyes and turned back to his grandson. "Well your little friend there, the one who used to have that unibrow and the pink bow in her hair, is in her room right now."

Arnold's body slightly jerked in surprise. During his thoughts of how to alleviate his boredom, he hadn't thought of Helga.

"I don't think she'd want to see me," he said, not at all knowing whether it was true or not.

His grandpa shot him a shrewd look. "Well, now how will you know if you don't ask her?"

Arnold grimaced, "Well we're not exactly friends anymore."

Phil glared at Oskar as he set his cards down, facing the table. "Now I remember a time when she used to skip outside of our house, just waiting for you to come out."

Arnold rolled his eyes, "yeah, to make fun of me, grandpa. Anyways that was years ago."

Phil shrugged and picked up his cards again. "All I'm saying is you'll never know until you try, short man."

Arnold watched silently for a minute as Ernie yelled at Oskar for attempting to look at his cards and Mr. Huynh adroitly moved his glass of juice away from the two. Why shouldn't he ask Helga, he wondered to himself. At one point, though a long time ago, they were kind of friends. And they did have mutual friends now and well their best friends are actually on a date together. If she was home that likely meant she didn't have plans either. It made sense that they could at least spend an evening together, hopefully without any fighting.

Taking a deep breath, Arnold stood from the table. No one seemed to notice as he made his way out of the kitchen and down the hall to the room at the far end of the boarding house. He could see a warm glow from under the closed door and Arnold felt himself getting more nervous with every step he took.

He stopped in front of her door and gulped. For nearly a minute he stood there, frozen, his hand raised, ready to knock... He couldn't do it. Grimacing, he lowered his hand but just as he was about to turn around to go to his room, the door suddenly opened and he came face to face with a very surprised Helga.

He gulped, "Uh, hey Helga."

Helga's brows came together in a question. "A-Arnold, w-what are you doing here?"

He laughed nervously. "Uh," his palms were a little sweaty. "I just wanted to know if you were busy."

He watched her shake her head vigorously and then look back at him. "What's it to you, bucko?" but her voice no longer had the same harshness to it that it had when they were kids.

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to do something. I mean you know with Phoebe and Gerald on their date and—"

"And everyone else was busy so you didn't have any other plans?" she finished for him. He was worried she would be angry but noticed that she merely looked amused. She cocked her head slightly and moved aside to allow him entry to her room. "Come on in, football head. Lucky for you I was just about to engage in a night of horror movies and junk food."

Arnold smiled, more relieved than he wanted to believe and took a look around her room. It was neat and clean. She had a large queen sized bed on the far end of the room with a white comforter patterned with pale pink flowers. A large soft looking green rug sat beneath it. Her desk was large, topped with an ornate lamp and scattered with books. He noticed the pink journal he had spotted earlier, sitting near the edge of the desk. A large drawer stood near the closet. It too had a lamp, though one much less elaborate than the one on her desk.

Arnold didn't know exactly what to do so he stood there awkwardly in the middle of the room.

Helga moved passed him and set her laptop on the bed. She turned to him, cocking a brow. "Well get on the bed," she said casually.

"W-what?"

She laughed, "If we're going to have a horror film marathon, I want to be comfortable. Sheesh football head, I'm not going to bite."

After giving Helga another glance to see if her legendary anger would come to the fore, he took off his shoes and scooted onto her bed, atop her covers. Helga handed him the laptop.

"I was just about to go out to microwave the popcorn." She held up two bags of unpopped corn, both butter flavored. She grinned, "You really have good timing."

Arnold smiled back and let out a relieved breath when she left the room. What just happened? He had never witnessed such a friendly response from Helga before. Is this what she had become over the years? That could explain why even Harold still hung out with her. Had he been missing out on a nice Helga all this time? He shook his head, not wanting to go back there. The past was past. Even if they hadn't really spoken in 3 years, they could become friends now.

He watched as Helga walked back into the room. She was wearing another white t-shirt that fitted her pretty well and while she again wore shorts, this time it was pink, the same shade of pink in fact, as the bow she had worn when they were kids. In her hands was a large bowl and Arnold could smell the popcorn as she made her way towards him.

She handed him the bowl as she took the laptop from him. He watched as her face frowned a bit in concentration. He knew that face. He could definitely tell it was Helga yet something was certainly different about her. Her features were a little sharper but that was only because she was older. But at the same time, it was also softer. Her brows were different, they weren't so scrunched up together and her mouth didn't look as thin as it used to be. It was then that he realized that she wasn't scowling. In fact, her expression looked quite content, maybe even happy and for the first time, Arnold realized that Helga G. Pataki was actually quite pretty.

"Take a picture why don't you, it'll last longer."

Arnold's eyes shot up to hers, startled. He had been lost in thought and hadn't realized he was staring at her so openly. Helga just shook her head but he noticed a small smile. "Same old football head."

She climbed onto the bed, next to him. She wasn't touching him but Arnold was acutely aware of the heat coming off her body. "Alright, Arnoldo, we have two options here to start." She set the laptop on her lap and pointed to two movie icons on her screen. One was a classic 'The Shinning Room' and another was a more recent film, 'The House with many Clowns.'

Arnold picked the former.

"Good choice, football head." She had obviously agreed with his selection and Arnold found himself smiling. It wasn't every day that Helga G. Pataki complimented you. Or at least, it didn't used to be that way.

As the movie started, Helga scooted down on the bed until her upper half was barely propped up onto her pillows. She bent her knees and placed the laptop at the crook of her hip. Arnold shifted a little, still a bit wary of being so close to her and being on her bed.

The movie lasted approximately 2 and a half hours but by the end of it, they were both lying comfortably down with the laptop somehow having been transferred to Arnold's lap and Helga holding the half empty popcorn bowl, encircled by her arm.

"I never get sick of that movie, no matter how many times I watch it," said Helga to no one in particular. She was lying on her side facing the now black screen, her head on her hand, her arm bent at a 90 degree angle on the bed.

"So, the twins are a kind of symbolism?" Arnold asked, having had noticed something in the movie he hadn't before. He was feeling oddly content, no longer so awkward with being so close to his very grown up and female childhood bully.

Helga turned her head to look up at him. She looked as if she was searching his gaze and then she let out a long sigh. "Well doi, football head" however, her tone seemed friendly enough. "They're ghosts right? So they represent the past. And when they say 'play with us forever', the scene is basically a reference to inescapability of the past."

"Right, the past..." He was looking at her strangely, his eyes not leaving her face, and Helga started to feel self-conscious. Was there something on her face? Then when she couldn't take it anymore, she nearly yelled "Well say something, football face!"

"What?" Arnold blinked. "Oh, sorry Helga."

Helga rolled her eyes but her heart was beating uncomfortably. She stood up suddenly, putting the popcorn bowl on her the table next to her bed. She got off the bed and headed toward the door. "I'm going to head to the bathroom. Pick the next movie while I'm gone," she said over her shoulder.

She quickly made her way to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She felt her body slump against the door and she took several deep breaths. _Oh Arnold…_

"No, no! Enough," she said to herself. "This isn't you anymore. Get ahold of yourself, Pataki!"

She took another deep breath and washed her face in the basin. She can't let this happen. There was a chance that they could finally be normal, friendly, maybe even friends and for once that was all that Helga wanted.

When Helga returned to her room, Arnold looked up and smiled at her. She inwardly sighed with relief when her heart did not flutter. "So what's next football head?" she asked, snaking her way back to her side of the bed.

"I thought we'd watch some more of the older horror films since it seems like you like them better."

Helga smiled, shaking her head. "Always the giver, aren't we Arnold?" She placed the popcorn bowl back on the bed near her chest. "So what'd you pick?" She looked at the screen and saw that he had already opened the movie. She nodded "'Silence of the Goat' nice choice." And smiled up at him. _There was that weird look again._ However, this time, instead of waiting for the awkward feeling to creep up on her, Helga quickly averted her eyes and reached over and clicked the play button.


	3. Pink Bunny, Stars, and Friendship

**Pink Bunny, Stars, and a tiny bit of Friendship**

"Something's different about her, Gerald."

Gerald shook his head. They were at the batting cages. "You know, I gotta admit, Pataki was actually quite helpful the night of our date but I mean, it's still Pataki. I just can't believe you spent the whole night with her."

Arnold blushed. "It wasn't like that." He reached down to pull his helmet out from his gym bag and watched as Gerald got ready at bat.

Gerald rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know but this is Helga G. Pataki, your own personal childhood bully, one you haven't spoken to the in past 3 years and then out of nowhere, you spend the night watching horror movies and eating junk on _her_ _bed_." A ball came rushing toward him. He swung and sent the ball flying back to the green tarp. "It's like the world has turned upside down! And now you're saying you feel guilty?"

"Yeah, Gerald, I do. We could have been friends all this time but I basically forgot about her."

Another ball came flying toward Gerald. He swung and again set the ball back. "Arnold, my man, does she even care?"

"Well—"

"Who are we talking about here, fellers?" came a familiar country accent. Arnold turned to see Stinky and Sid slide up next to him.

They watched Gerald through the fence that separated the onlookers from the batters. "Helga Pataki," said Gerald as he took another swing but missed.

Sid put down the bag he had had hoisted on his shoulder. "Oh, Helga. Yeah, she's nice."

"Yup, Miss Helga sure has changed."

"See Gerald? I should apologize to her."

Sid looked at Arnold. "Why do you have to apologize to her?"

Gerald rolled his eyes as he stepped out of the batting cage. "Arnold thinks because he didn't make an effort to stay friends with her, he needs to apologize." He turned to Arnold. "Was she even mad at you the other day?" Arnold shook his head and opened his mouth, about to speak but Gerald cut him off, "Then what makes you think you need to apologize for anything? It's not like you did anything wrong. It's just as much Helga's fault as it is yours."

"Wait, hold up a second," chimed in Sid. "You haven't spoken to Helga in how long?"

"Since middle school," responded Arnold.

Stinky whistled. "Gee Willikers, Arnold."

"Yeah," said Sid, "even I hang out with her last twice a month."

"You do?" ask Gerald, his brow raised.

"Yeah, we go to the movies."

"And sometimes I go with them. Yup, Miss Helga sure got nice."

"Well, she's not completely nice," said Sid. "I mean she still calls us names and she's still bossy but she doesn't push us around or threaten us like she used to." Sid turned his gaze to Arnold, "But I'm surprised. I was sure you of all people would have stayed friends with her, Arnold. I mean you were always saying how she wasn't so bad and telling us that we should give her a chance."

"Yeah, Arnold. I got to admit I'm quite surprised myself. I mean we all hang out with Miss Helga now partly because of you."

Arnold blinked, a bit surprised at Sid's words and Stinky's agreement. "I should clear things up with her."

"Now hold on a second, Arnold. We didn't say that. I mean Helga's never mentioned you any time we hung out so I don't think she's mad about it," said Sid.

Arnold felt a bit annoyed at that.

"See, Arnold. Don't apologize for something like this, man. You feel bad, we get it. You're Arnold but an apology is not necessary. It'll be like you're admitting you did something wrong. If you want to be her friend, just be her friend."

Arnold was silent for a second but then he nodded, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll just be her friend."

…

Arnold hadn't seen Helga in a few days since their movie marathon. Of course, he hadn't attempted to knock on her door again since and the past few nights, he had plans with other friends so he hadn't seen her or sought her out.

However, Arnold, not being a guy to back down after having made a decision, made sure to clear his schedule one night just in the hopes that she may want to spend some time together.

In his room, he put on a clean shirt. Being older and specifically taller now, his clothes no longer hung near his knees. He remembered having often been teased because his shirt, having been so long, looked like a dress. Arnold smiled at the memory and shook his head. Having Helga back in his life, he realized, was making him think a lot about his younger days.

Arnold picked out a blue sweater and tugged it over his football shaped head and looked in the mirror. He looked a lot like he did back in 4th grade, he realized. Smiling again in memory, he moved toward his door and walked down the stairs.

"Hey grandpa," he said as he spotted Phil reading a paper on the table as he passed by the kitchen.

Phil didn't look up, his nose buried in the pages. "Hey there, short man."

Taking a deep breath, he walked up to Helga's door and knocked. He heard shuffling coming from the other side and felt himself smile. _Good, she's home_. A second later, the door opened and again, he came face to face with… Phoebe?

"Hello Arnold," said Phoebe, smiling but he could tell that she was surprised.

"Hi Phoebe," replied Arnold, politely. He looked passed her head into Helga's room but saw no one else there. "Where's Helga?"

"I believe Helga is in the midst of her daily ablution. She should be right out."

"Are you guys heading somewhere?" he asked her, realizing that that was quite likely.

Phoebe nodded. "Yes, in fact, we have plans to go to the Museum of Science tonight to see the new Planetarium Show."

"Oh," said Arnold. He felt a bit deflated; he had been looking forward to a night hanging out with Helga. He had blown off plans with Gerald and now in hindsight realized he should have probably made plans with her earlier rather than showing up unannounced at her door.

Phoebe smiled again. "Would you like to step in, Arnold? I'm sure Helga would be glad to see you."

Arnold smiled in return. "Sure, Phoebe, it would be nice to say hi to her before you guys leave."

Phoebe stood aside to let Arnold in then turned to him. "Actually, if you would like to join us, I'm sure Helga would not mind. It will be quite an educational venture."

Arnold rubbed the back of his neck. He didn't want to intrude and it wasn't as if Helga was the one who had asked him. He was about to tell Phoebe exactly that when a voice called for Phoebe from the hallway and walked in a Helga dressed only in a small bath robe.

"Hey Pheebs, what time do we have to be there?" she was saying as she rubbed her hair with a fluffy white towel, staring at her hands as she worked. She had not noticed Arnold.

Arnold's eyes widened, certain that now he would be beaten to an inch of his life.

"Uh Helga," Phoebe squeaked.

"What?" she set aside the now damp towel and looked up. "A-arnold!" She closed the robe tighter around her body. "W-what are you doing here?" she yelled. She turned to Phoebe, "What is he doing here?"

Arnold turned away suddenly and looked at the wall. He was blushing bright red. "Sorry Helga, I just wanted to see if you were free tonight to hang out."

Helga's eyes widened. She honestly hadn't expected to see him. She had perhaps kind of hoped, a little but not too much, to see him around the boarding house but he had been busy. However, she certainly hadn't expected for him to explicitly seek her out and most especially not when she was dressed in nothing but a short bathrobe! Her face felt too warm. _Breathe. Breathe_. "Okay football head," she said once she got a handle on her nerves, "Phoebe and I are going to the Planetarium tonight and you are welcome to join us since you seem set to want my-oh-so pleasant company. You can also invite Geraldo so that Phoebe here won't be disappointed. Now if you don't mind," her voice was low and a charged with energy she couldn't contain, "can you get out of here so that I can change!"

…

They made it to the planetarium about an hour after Helga's rather dramatic invitation. She had grumbled at him when he apologized again as they got into the Packard and went to pick up Gerald. She had sat in the front seat with him as he drove. Arnold had glanced at her several times but her gaze had been glued to whatever view that came across her side of the window.

Now they were in line to get their tickets. Phoebe and Gerald were holding hands and whispering and Arnold stood off to the side with Helga, feeling a bit awkward.

He felt a nudge. "Hey football head," said Helga and he turned his gaze to where she pointed.

On the wall across from where they stood was printed a cartoon of a large ball with a face talking to another ball in what looked like a hotel lobby and underneath in large letters was a joke: A photon checks into a hotel and is asked if he needs any help with his luggage. He says, 'No, I'm traveling light.'

Arnold let out a small chuckle. "I knew you'd like that," Helga said as she shook her head but he saw that her face had sported a smile, "still such a hair boy."

Arnold turned to her, having eyed a statue of a dinosaur outside the Cretaceous Exhibit, "Alright, I got one for you and I'm sure you'll appreciate it."

"Lay it on me, football head."

"What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary?"

Helga rolled her eyes but could not hide her smile.

Arnold grinned, his eyes half lidded with a self-satisfied amusement. "A Thesaurus."

Helga's lips twitched and she let out a soft laugh. "That's a bad one, even for you." Arnold's grin widened.

"What are you two all happy about over here?" asked Gerald as he and Phoebe turned back to look at them.

"Football head here was just showing me his prowess on telling dad jokes."

Gerald's brow raised, "Dad jokes? Arnold?"

Arnold laughed and shrugged. "My grandpa tells a lot of them."

"Oh, it looks as though the planetarium doors are opening," said Phoebe softly. The four friends turned to watch an usher opened the double doors and started herding people through. Once inside, they picked 4 seats toward the outer rim of the theatre.

Once everyone was seated, the doors closed and the lights dimmed. Arnold sat on one side of Helga and she sat next to Phoebe. The chairs were designed to recline and once the show started, Arnold leaned back and lookup up at the ceiling as stars began painting themselves upon the dark canvas. The narrator swept them through a history of the universe starting with the theory of the Big Bang to the creation of their sun then the Earth, the dinosaurs, the mammals, and finally humans.

As the ceilings shot through different pictures of the universe's history, Arnold couldn't help but feel awe at what had to culminate for him to have been born. For everything to have happened for him to have been there at that very moment in time. His thoughts briefly went to his parents and he frowned, realizing that those thoughts had become far and few in between over the years. The ceiling panned out then and it felt as though Arnold was suddenly transported to an empty field where no manmade light reached him as he stared out a sky full of stars. He involuntarily sucked in a breath, feeling suddenly small and oddly alone. He wished to voice words, words that he knew would somehow set him free from his momentary self-made prison and lamented that he could not. In the background the narrator spoke, "With the development of homo sapiens, formed the concept of a higher being to which their trails and fortunes were linked…"

Then a soft voice cut through his thoughts and the narrator's words: "But a man said to the universe…" It was so soft that for a second, Arnold wondered if he had heard it in his head until the words continued and Arnold turned his gaze and looked upon the voice's owner.

"'Sir, I exist!'

'However,' replied the universe,

'The fact has not created in me…

A sense of obligation.'"

Arnold stared at her for several seconds before Helga turned her head. He noticed an odd look in her eyes and then she blushed. "Stephen Crane," she whispered to him, obviously hoping that it would stem any questions he would have. But instead it made him look at her a bit more closely. _How had she known?_

"Quit _staring_ , football head" came a harsh grumble and Arnold realized he was still looking at her but now Helga's face held only an expression of annoyance. He blinked and vaguely heard the narrator mention the importance of star gazing in early human history. He looked at her once more, her face having turned back to the ceiling but he could see a strained nervousness about her. Slowly Arnold shook his head and with a great deal of unexpected reluctance, he turned his gaze back skyward.

…

After the show, the four friends stopped at an arcade restaurant (think D&B) for some dinner and post dinner fun. They ate burgers and shared a pizza amongst them. Helga was slurping a chocolate shake when Gerald turned to Phoebe and suggested that they play a few games. Helga had rolled her eyes but then Arnold had turned to her and suggested the same.

She had shrugged in response and taking one last sip of her drink, followed him to the back of the arcade.

"Hey, Helga," said Arnold, turning to an old dinosaur shooting game called 'Cretaceous Park', "Have you played this one before?" He slid into the game, which was shaped like the jeep from the movie and Helga followed.

Helga took the blue plastic gun that Arnold stretched out to her and raised a brow.

Arnold smiled. "Don't worry, I'll show you. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it fast." He was too busy putting the coins in the slot to notice her rolling her eyes. He then took the red gun and watched the opening film. Supposedly, a bunch of raptors had gotten loose at an arms facility that was mostly abandoned but a few people remained inside. Their mission was to find the survivors.

The game started off easy with just one raptor at a time, most of which Helga let Arnold shoot down. Arnold was doing really well with some lazy help from Helga until they reached the final phase and were suddenly onset with dozens of raptors. Up until this point, Helga had been doing just what she needed to help Arnold get by but now, she noticed that he struggled.

"Alright move it aside, bucko!" she said and shoved him lightly with her shoulder until she was sitting in the middle of the jeep. Arnold watched with obvious fascination as Helga accurately shot down every last raptor. Of course, he should have expected Helga to be good at this; she had always been good at games when they were younger, not letting any of the boys surpass her.

Once done, she put the gun back and moved out of the jeep, leaving Arnold to follow after her.

"Wow, Helga," he said, once he too got out of the jeep. "You did so well."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." She turned to him, "So what else do you want to play, football head?"

Arnold smiled, having laid eyes a racing game. They played on various games for another hour or so when they spotted Gerald and Phoebe at the prize station. Arnold watched as Gerald handed her a large teddy bear he had obviously gotten with the tickets he had won. Arnold looked down at the small pile of tickets in his hand. He and Helga hadn't played as many ticket games but there was enough for at least a small prize.

"I'll be right back," he said to her as Gerald and Phoebe made their way to them.

Arnold walked up to the prize stand and immediately spotted a small pink bunny keychain. It was the same color as the bow he had always associated with Helga. He handed the guy behind the counter all of his tickets, saying he could keep whatever was left over after he selected his prize and made his way back to his friends.

Helga had been talking with Phoebe when Arnold returned to her side. He had waited politely for her to turn around and when she did, he gave her a wide smile to which she merely quirked her brow.

"What's up, football head?"

"Here, Helga," he said, taking her hand and placing the bunny keychain on her open palm.

She blinked, staring at the object for a moment longer than necessary then lifted her head to look at him.

"It's pink like your old bow," he explained, still smiling. "I thought you should have it."

A moment longer until she finally found her voice "Uh… thanks, foot—, I mean, A-Arnold."

He continued to smile at her and she couldn't help but feel an odd, unwanted stirring in her heart.

…

 **Writer's Notes** : Hehe sorry, you will find that I take a lot of movies and such and just change them a little to fit in this fictitious world. I chose the Jurassic Park shooting game because I loved it growing up. The jokes were found online at these sites respectively  31-cringe-worthy-science-jokes-and-puns-2015-11#if-youre-not-part-of-the-solution-youre-part-of-the-precipitate-4,  . /news/10-very-worst-dinosaur-jokes-history/2280509/. I am a big fan of nerdy jokes so I thought I'd bring a bit of levity to this chapter using them.


	4. Stars, Planets, and a Bad Joke

**Stars, Planets, and a Bad Joke**

Helga was lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. An open book lay next to her. She had read the same passage about 5 times before having given up and turned onto her back. She couldn't concentrate and it had been that way for the pass hour. Her mind kept reeling with memories of the past few weeks. Almost every day, Arnold had sought her out to hang out. Sometimes, it had just been for a few hours but other times, they had spent nearly the whole day together. Sometimes, it had been with Phoebe and Gerald or other friends but more often than she realized she liked, it had been just the two of them.

They had gone out to the movies, to the batting cages, to restaurants or diners, they had had a few more movie marathons, sometimes in his room and sometimes in hers and sometimes they just talked.

Helga sighed and drew circles with her hands in the air. It had felt a little odd to her; it had actually felt almost like he had been trying to make up for all the years that they hadn't spoken. She frowned as her mind settled on one particular day. He had been gone most of the day with Gerald, Harold, Stinky, and Sid. She had gotten home late that day, having spent it with Phoebe and had gone straight to her room to lie down when Arnold had knocked.

She had groaned but let him inside. "What's up, Arnoldo?" she had grumbled and flopped on her bed, sitting cross legged.

He had sat down on her chair and had looked at her until she had rolled her eyes and told him to spit out whatever he wanted to say.

"Helga, I have been thinking and well, I know you aren't really asking for this but I feel as though I need to—"

He was talking in circles and Helga stopped him. "What are you trying to say, football head?"

"I'm sorry," he blurted out. Before she could ask for what, he continued, "for not making an effort to be friends with you these past years. I didn't mean to. I even saw us as friends in an unconventional way. And just because we didn't have any of the same classes, didn't excuse the fact that I hadn't bothered to seek you out. I'll admit back then, perhaps part of me was a little relieved that we weren't forced to be on speaking terms because of—" He shot her an apologetic smile. "But now I know that that was wrong. We've changed and I realized now, Helga, that you can be kind and caring and fun—"

She stared at him as he continued to speak. _Was he apologizing to her?_ Was he actually apologizing for having ended, albeit not explicitly, their somewhat twisted and unusual friendship? The friendship that she had cherished and hated in equal measure?

Her heart was beating rapidly. His words were doing something to her that she did not like.

A hand was placed on her shoulder and she jerked at the touch. Looking up, she saw Arnold's concerned face. _Oh Arnold_. Why did he have to be so good? So pure of heart? So _amazing_? Hadn't it been bad enough that she had had to do penance for all the years she had mistreated him? Hadn't it been bad enough that she had spent nearly 3 grueling long years destroying the love that acted more like a poison when she was near him so that if she had ever had the chance to see him again, she could apologize and let him know just how great of a person she thought he was?

But now he was here, standing in front of her, apologizing to _her_.

"Sheesh, football head," she had said but noticed that her hands were shaking. She quickly placed them under her crossed legs and gave him as a nonchalant a shrug she could possibly muster. "It's no big deal, I hadn't even noticed." _What is wrong with me? Now is the time to apologize!_ She noticed that his face fell just a bit. "I mean," she quickly said, "I understand. You were busy with classes, new friends, what have you. So was I." _Liar._ "If it makes you feel any better, I accept your apology but think nothing of it. If you're worried that you hurt me, you didn't." _Liar._

Arnold was still sporting a slight frown but Helga knew that he had believed her. _Good, he needs to believe me otherwise, he won't stop at trying to make things right and the effort alone would likely kill me!_

She continued. "It's really okay, Arnold," she said softly, trying hard to smile. "We can be friends now, right?"

At that, Arnold smiled and she noticed that he looked as though a huge weight had been lifted off of him. Had it really bothered him that much?

"That's great, Helga!" He stood up and headed to the door. "Well, then I'll let you rest. Have a good night." He had smiled at her and quietly closed the door behind him.

Since then, Helga had been discreetly avoiding him. She had still greeted him whenever she saw him in the hall and joined him when they were hanging out as a group but in the past five days, whenever she had free time and knew that he was home also, she had rushed to a café or a bookstore and had camped there until the time came when it was unlikely that Arnold would come look for her. Now she sighed, today the football head hadn't come look for her at all. _Just my rotten luck_ , she thought, finally when she had control back over her emotions and thoughts and was ready to resume their newly found friendship, Arnold had been nowhere to be found. None of their mutual friends had seen him and his other school friends had actually been away that summer so it wasn't likely he would have been with them.

She sighed again and picked up her book but then set it down immediately afterwards. She was annoyed. _Where was he? I've been sitting here all day waiting for him and football face just disappeared off the face of the earth?_ Helga got up and walked to her door. Perhaps someone in the boarding house had seen him.

She walked toward the kitchen but saw only the short bald guy and the guy whose wife should have left him years ago fighting over a sandwich. Walking into the sitting room, she saw Arnold's grandpa, who was again reading the paper.

"Uh, hi," Helga said.

Phil peeked over top of the newspaper to look at her. "Oh, it's Arnold's friend with the little pink bow and unibrow," he said and set down his reading material.

"Uh, right. Um, so I was wondering did you see Arnold around today?"

"Short man?" Phil stroked his chin as he gave her a steady gaze. He was quiet for a long moment and Helga couldn't help but wonder what was going on inside his head that was obviously causing him to think for so long. "I might," he said slowly. "What's it to ya?"

"Uh, I just wanted to see how he was since I haven't seen him around all day."

"Right, well." Phil stood and walked over to a bookcase that stood against the wall. "Today is kind of a special day for Arnold." He pulled out a large album and sat back down.

Helga remained standing, watching Phil somewhat nervously. _A special day?_

"You see," Phil said, pulling out what looked like a photo from the album and setting it on the table before him. Helga moved forward and looked down. It was obviously an old photo but in it, Helga recognized the oblong shaped head of a little baby held in the arms of a woman who modeled the same head shape and next to her stood a tall handsome man with the corn colored hair she knew very well.

"Today's the day short man there lost his parents," he said softly.

Helga's eyes widened just a tad. "Arnold," she whispered trailing her finger across the baby in the picture. She remembered a long time ago during the 4th grade Parent's Day. She knew immediately that he would be alone and that he would be wretched.

Helga squared her shoulders. "Where is he?" she asked Phil.

Phil eyed her again before saying, "Well if you're going to go and see Short man, maybe you can get him to eat something. He never eats on this day. Boy is as stubborn as a mule when he wants to be."

Helga answered that with nothing more than a single nod.

…

Helga returned to the boarding house an hour later with a bag of burgers and fries in one hand and shakes from Slausen's in the other. Phil had told her that Arnold was either up in his room or on the roof and that no one ever bothered him on this day so there was no reason he would have run away to hide somewhere else alone.

Squaring her shoulders, she pulled down the stairs that led to his room and instead of knocking, turned the knob and walked right into his bedroom. The lights were not on and since it was already night, the room was dark. She saw a shape on the bed and knew instantly that it was Arnold.

She walked over to his desk and set down the food. She then grabbed the remote that controlled a variety of the room's gadgets and spent a few minutes trying to figure out how to turn on the lights.

"How do I work this thing?" she grumbled, having turned on the music, then turned it off before finally turning on the lights.

She turned around to look at Arnold's bed and saw that he had sat up and was watching her, squinting slightly at the sudden flare of lights.

"Helga?" His voice a little hoarse.

"Well doi, did you think it was the boogey man?" she said but her tone was gentle. She picked up the food and walked over to him. "Alright football head," she said. "Your grandpa said you haven't eaten all day so get off your bed and eat this." She set the bag on his lap.

Arnold stared at it for a second then glanced back at her face. She was slightly scowling.

"Well? Eat, football head." But when he didn't move, she sat down by his feet and grabbed the bag from his lap and opened it, taking out a wrapped burger and handed it to him. She grumbled under her breath, something about footballs and starvation and idiots. Arnold found that he could smile. But the smile was small and disappeared a second later.

"What are you doing here, Helga?" he asked her, looking at the burger in his hand. _When had he taken it?_

"I came here because apparently you have been in this room all day not eating or drinking."

"Oh." Arnold was again silent.

After a few minutes where Helga watched him stare at the floor, she sighed. "Alright Arnoldo, I didn't want to have to do this but—" He looked up and she stared back at him, straight in the eye. "The Energizer bunny was arrested." Arnold stared at her, a confused line forming between his brows. Then Helga let out a deep breath, "It was charged with battery."

Her words were met with an awkward silence. She felt her ears starting to heat up and just when she was about to jump up and leave the room out of embarrassment, she heard a small chuckle. And then the chuckle started to grow louder and soon Arnold was laughing openly into the room, his eyes closed and his head slightly thrown back.

She watched him for a second, thinking how the cute little football headed boy turned out to be so handsome. She shook her head.

"Helga, I—" Arnold wiped at his eyes. "That was awful."

"Yeah, yeah," she grumbled but noticed that he continued to smile. Still chuckling slightly, Arnold looked at the burger in his hand and felt his stomach rumble softly. He was hungry.

He unwrapped the burger and took a small bite. And then another one, bigger this time. And another and another until the all that was left before him was an empty wrapper. A shake was placed in front of his face and he looked up. Helga's head was turned away from him and her profile looked indifferent as she held the drink out for him. He smiled again.

"Thanks," he said softly as he took the drink from her outstretched hand.

"No problem, football head." Helga then stood and Arnold knew that she was about to leave. She had said that her goal had been to feed him.

"Wait, Helga," he called out to her as she was halfway to the door.

He watched as she stopped and turned around, a brow raised in question.

"Thank you," he said, knowing that she was smart enough to understand that it wasn't in reference to the food.

She smiled a gentle smile and again it struck Arnold how pretty she was. "You're welcome, football head."

Then before she could turn back and head out the door, Arnold asked. "Can you stay here with me for a little bit longer?"

Her brows scrunched up in confusion. "Don't you want to be alone?"

He smiled and shrugged. "I do or… I did."

Helga nodded and Arnold scooched over so she could sit next to him on the bed. He watched as she fiddled with her fingers. _She's nervous_. He was fascinated to see her so. Helga G. Pataki, so sure in her in everything from her brains and skills to her aggression, especially when it had concerned Arnold, was now nervous because of _him_. He shook his head, trying to shake away the strange grin that had formed on his face.

He watched as Helga suddenly leaned back on the bed and looked up, her knees hanging off the side of the bed and her body leaning against her bent arms. "No wonder you stay here," she said softly. "Looking at those stars is kind of like a healing balm."

Arnold followed her gaze. The city must have been strangely quiet that night for there were more stars in the sky than he had ever before remembered seeing except on the night of Sally's comet.

"Hey Helga," he said suddenly, "What you said at the planetarium, what did you mean?"

He saw her body freeze momentarily. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on, Helga," his words prodding her gently.

She let out a breath but after a moment spoke again. She was still looking at the sky. "Fine. I was referring to my own beliefs." Arnold remained silent, willing her to continue. "The narrator was going on about how humans believed our lives were tied to an external purpose but I was firmly of the opposite opinion."

"Why?" Arnold didn't know why he was suddenly so curious except perhaps that her words had struck a chord in his soul that night especially when his thoughts had wandered to his parents.

"I don't know, football head. Maybe it's because if I don't believe that then it would confirm that there isn't a reason that life is so cruel to some and for others it's a walk in the park." Arnold noted that her words sounded not angry but a little bit bitter. "There are good people in this world and yet awful things happen to them." Her gaze finally turned to him and Arnold was struck with a feeling that she was referring to him.

She returned her gaze to the stars. "And then there are awful people, who didn't start off so but the world made them that way."

Arnold looked at her closely. _Was she talking about herself?_

They remained silent for a few minutes, just watching the stars as his room automatically dimmed the lights. Arnold looked at his clock, it was already 1AM but for some reason, he didn't quite feel like letting her leave.

"Helga…" he said quietly, he felt his face starting to blush. "Do you think you can just stay here tonight?"

He watched as her head whipped to look at his and her eyes widened and he hastened to continue, "Just to keep me company, I mean. I'll stay above the covers and you can go under them. Or I can sleep on the floor the couch and you can take the bed."

For a second, Helga said nothing but then she sighed and for some reason, he could almost hear pain within the soft sound. "Will that help, football head?"

Arnold nodded. He didn't want for it to get awkward between them but Helga's presence was surprisingly therapeutic. He knew that he was being selfish if she was uncomfortable but he assumed that now that they were friends, it wouldn't bother her as much.

"Alright, football head," said Helga and he could immediately tell that her old demeanor had returned. "If that is what you so desire." She scooted to the side of the bed against the wall and plopped down. "We might as well watch a movie then as you finish your food."

Arnold grinned as he got up and turned on his laptop. He then proceeded to spend an unexpected night with his old, childhood bully.

…

 **Writer's notes** : Now I don't think Helga, even after all this time, knows exactly how to be comforting so… I made her tell a joke which I believe would have surprise Arnold out of his melancholy. Hopefully, you guys liked this. I really wanted them to get close in a more meaningful way and thought this was a nice chapter in their relationship. So far it's been pretty smooth sailing between these two but let me tell ya, it's not going to stay that way! If it did, this would be a pretty boring series…

Also, thank you for all your comments! I love reading them and appreciate them greatly. And **Smooth Pancakes** haha, you were absolutely correct; as you can see in this chapter Arnold is already driving Helga crazy and will continue to do so!


	5. A little Sun, a little Fun, and a Kiss

**A little Sun, a little Fun, and a little Kiss?**

The following morning, Arnold woke to the sun shining on his face. Groaning, he turned around to escape its rays but stopped when he found himself facing the sleeping form of a girl. _Helga_.

Arnold froze for a second, willing his brain to go back to the night before and let out a breath when he realized that they must have fallen asleep while watching a movie. He frowned, he had meant to sleep on the couch last night since Helga had been a bit uncomfortable with staying over and well, he _was_ a guy and she was most definitely a girl and it wasn't exactly proper.

He looked at her, his eyes grazed her sleeping face. He was still slightly in awe of it, of how nice she looked. He supposed that because it was, after all those years of her scowling, her face in repose was such a drastic contrast.

He had surprised himself last night when he had asked her to stay. But when the words had left his lips, he had suddenly come to the realization that he and Helga had become really close. He was strangely comfortable around her and well, he really enjoyed her company. And now, lying next to her as the sun shone its rays on their faces, he felt oddly content. His mind hadn't been exaggerating when it had said that her presence was therapeutic. Arnold smiled; his 9 year old self would have heartily disagreed with him if he had heard him now.

Helga shifted and her arm came into light contact with his. Arnold froze, suddenly acutely aware of that point. It felt as though a jolt had passed through his body, stemming from the very area where their arms met. He hadn't expected that and his eyes widened just a bit.

"Hey, you up short man?" came a voice suddenly and his door opened. Arnold's eyes widened even more as he whipped around to see his grandpa walking in with a tray of food. Helga was partially covered by a blanket and he quickly threw the rest of it over her head as his grandpa stopped in front of him, his own eyes wide.

Arnold and his grandpa stared at each other for a second longer before Phil began to slowly back away, his eyes still on Arnold's face and the bed until he reached the door, walked to the other side of it, and quietly closed it.

Arnold groaned. Now he would have to explain the situation to him. He could just imagine how the conversation would go, he was certain it would go pretty much the same way it did when Phil had had "the talk" with him when he had turned 15. Something about a big catch, fish, and not sailing away.

Arnold plopped back down on the bed.

"Wha?" said a sleepy voice and Arnold turned his head to watch Helga slowly open her eyes. Once open, they settled on his and a strange look crossed her features. "Am I dreaming?" she asked, softly.

Arnold smiled at her odd expression. Then with a goofy grin, she lightly snuggled up to his side and Arnold was momentarily immobilized. "Uh, H-Helga?"

She looked up into his face. "Hmm?" Then her eyes suddenly widened and he saw the haze in them clear. She quickly pushed herself as far away as she could possibly get from him, right up against the wall. "A-Arnold? W-What are you doing here?" She looked around. She was in his room. "W-Why am I in your room? Why are we in the same bed?" she asked desperately, her eyes like that of a crazed person.

"Helga, remember last night? I think we just fell asleep, watching a movie," explained Arnold quickly, trying to calm her.

"L-last night?" Her eyes darted a few more times from his face to his bed then to the opposite side of the room. Then Arnold watched as she visibly calmed. She let out a deep breath and looked at him. "Well, geezus football head! I thought you were going to sleep on the couch," she said roughly. She quickly stood up and got off the bed.

Arnold sat up. She was moving toward the door, angrily. "Helga," he called after her.

She stopped and turned. "What?" The word was harsh and he noticed a deep blush on her cheeks.

"Thanks," he said softly.

For a moment, she just stood there and then she let out a loud and long sigh. "You're welcome, football head." She turned around but then stopped and turned back to him. "And don't you ever ask me to do that again!" And closed his door behind her with a loud bang.

Arnold smiled and stood up. If there was just one thing in the world that he was sure of right then, it was that life with Helga in the Sunset Arms would never be dull.

…

Helga met up with Phoebe at a café at the Hillwood Shopping strip later that day, after having showered away her embarrassment and the odd tingly feeling she hadn't felt since the 8th grade.

"Helga, I tried calling you last night but you never answered," said Phoebe as she sat down with two coffees in hand and handed Helga hers.

"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry Pheebs."

"What were you doing, Helga?"

Helga felt herself blush. "Nothing, sheesh, I just got busy that's all."

Phoebe gave her a shrewd look but then shrugged. "Well, Helga, I wanted to let you know that Rhonda was back."

Helga took a sip of her coffee. "Oh yeah? Princess back from her fancy French castle?"

Phoebe nodded and looked at her watch. "She's actually going to join us here in a little while."

"Huh, whoopee doo. Probably to regale us with all her travels of fancy hairy underarm balls and croissants."

"Well actually, Helga," came a voice from behind her. They turned to see Rhonda and Nadine walk up to their table. Rhonda was wearing a black beret and a large matching purse. "They're called soirees and for your information, all the girls in Paris now shave their underarms." She came up to Phoebe and kissed her on the cheek, "Oh, mes amies, how I have missed you!"

When she came closer to Helga, Helga held up a hand. "Keep your lips to yourself, princess, or I'll be taking them off you and putting them on your fancy pareeez bag as a decorative item."

Rhonda merely shook her head. "Still the same. You have no class, Helga," she said and sat down. Nadine took the chair next to her.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, princess."

"So how was Paris, Rhonda?" Phoebe asked.

Rhonda suddenly grinned, "Oh it was tres bon! You wouldn't believe all the shopping my mother and I did and all of the parties we went to."

Phoebe politely smiled but Nadine and Helga rolled her eyes.

"Nadine, could you be a dear and get me a French Press Spiced Vanilla Latte?" said Rhonda, pulling out a hand mirror and looking at her reflection.

"Uh, Rhonda, I don't think that's on the menu," said Nadine.

Rhonda snapped the mirror shut and waved her hand, "well then get me whatever they have. Pick the most expensive one. Oh and get yourself one too."

Nadine rolled her eyes but walked over to the counter.

When Nadine returned with two regular Spiced Vanilla lattes, Rhonda turned to Helga and said, "Don't think it hasn't been brought to my attention that you and an oh so charming classmate of ours have been spending time together this summer, Helga."

Helga, who had been in the middle of taking another sip, stopped and raised a brow.

"Oh you know, our dear old colleague. Does Arnold Shortman ring a bell?"

Helga scoffed. "So?"

"I just thought it was so strange that after all this time you're suddenly so buddy buddy with him."

Helga rolled her eyes. "Maybe it's because we live under the same roof."

"Yes, yes, anyways regardless of the reason, I am ecstatic! And you!" she suddenly turned to Phoebe. "How could you not tell me that you and Gerald finally got together?"

"Oh, well, I—"

"Calm down, princess," cut in Helga. "It happened after you left for Paris."

"Well no matter." She was smiling broadly. "This calls for something with the whole gang, a party probably. No, wait, a better idea, we'll all go to my beach house for a few days before school starts."

"There's only a week left before school recommences" Phoebe pointed out.

But that did not faze Rhonda. "Well, then we'll go this Friday." It was Wednesday.

"Isn't that a little short notice?" asked Nadine.

"Please, Nadine. Why would a short notice matter when it means a couple of days at the beach?" Before they could respond, she said, "I'm putting you girls down for having RSVP'd and I don't want any excuses. Then of course I'll have to invite Gerald, Arnold, and Harold. I supposed I'd have to invite Sid and Stinky." She suddenly turned to Nadine, "Nadine, is Lila back yet from that backward whatever she went to to visit that cousin of hers?"

Helga felt herself tense up. She too looked at Nadine, waiting for an answer. "I believe she came back a few days ago," she responded.

"Alright, then Lila is invited as well."

Helga felt Phoebe's eyes on her and she turned to her and after inwardly shaking her head, shrugged. What did she care? She had no feelings for Arnold anymore. Just because Little Miss Perfect still got on her nerves with her perfect hair and her perfect manners and her perfect whatever. That didn't mean that she couldn't be with her _and_ Arnold at the same time, right?

…

Friday rolled around faster than Helga had anticipated. She had seen Arnold a handful of times since the embarrassing wakeup call that one morning but their conversations had generally been short as he was often on the way out the door. Doing what, she had no idea. But she had been busy so she hadn't given it much thought.

Now it was Friday and she was at Phoebe's with her backpack slung over her shoulder. They were all going in separate cars and had agreed to meet up at Rhonda's beach house; Helga was riding with Phoebe, Nadine, and Sheena. Sheena was scheduled to pick them up in about an hour.

"Helga," said Phoebe, looking at her best friend. "Are you going to be okay?"

"What are you talking about, Pheebs?"

"With Arnold and Lila being there..."

Helga rolled her eyes. She had tried her best not to think about it in the past few days. "Why should it bother me?"

"Well, with your history and now that you and Arnold are friends—"

"Let me stop you there, Pheebs," said Helga, cutting Phoebe off midsentence. "I don't give a rat's hoot about Lila or about Arnold's relationship with Lila. I'm only going because you are my friend and while it still baffles me, so is princess Lloyd over there as well as a couple of other handful of people she had invited." She rolled her eyes again, "It'll be our senior year, and I'm just going to have a little sun and a little fun."

"Okay, Helga," replied Phoebe after a charged silence, "If you say so." But Helga noticed that she did not look convinced.

…

Helga and her friends arrived at the beach house about 10 minutes after three. Everyone else had already arrived and were at the beach. So as soon as they parked the car, the four girls went to their respective rooms, dropped off their bags, changed, and headed out.

As they were getting closer to the rest of the party, Helga could hear laughter and a distinctive country voice yelling, "Hey fellers, check out this new swimsuit my pa got me, he said it was all the rage in Yoo-rup."

"Hahaha, Stinky, you're wearing a speedo!"

"Would you stop pointing, Harold! And Stinky, that is pronounced Europe!"

Helga rolled her eyes and stepped onto the sand. There was Stinky in a green speedo, most of his pale skin out for all to see. Then there was Harold pointing and laughing and Rhonda standing next to him in a red bikini and a black sun hat, shooting him glares.

Rhonda spotted them. "Oh good, you guys are here!" She walked over and linked her arm with Helga and Nadine and walked them to the where all the big umbrellas, beach chairs, and towels lay. "Ugh, finally some civilized people to talk to." She sat down on the beach chair and put on her sun glasses. "Nadine, can you hand me my sunblock?"

"Well, I'm going into the water. Pheebs, you with me?" asked Helga as she started making her way to the ocean.

"Coming!" said Phoebe as she hurried to reach Helga's side.

As they walked closer to the water, they noticed a group of people gathered together in the waves. Two boys were throwing a beach ball back and forth and the third lay idly on a blowup beach mattress. The only girl stood next to the boys, watching them play on the sidelines. Helga instantly recognized her and had to physically stop herself from grinding her teeth together.

"Hey Helga!" Arnold called out as soon as he spotted her. He signaled Sid not to throw the ball and started swimming in her and Phoebe's direction.

Helga watched as Gerald lifted his head from the blowup and lowered his sun glasses to peer at them. He then used his arms to paddle his way to join Arnold.

Phoebe giggled.

"Hey babe," Gerald said when he was about 10 feet away from them.

"Hello, Gerald," said Phoebe, smiling. He gave her a once over, taking in her dark blue one piece, and grinned. "Looking good."

Helga rolled her eyes. Arnold had reached her side then and he too was grinning.

"Hey Helga," he said again.

She gave him a single nod, "football head."

"We were wondering when you guys were going to get here."

"Arnold here was looking for you to ask you to come with us in our car," said Gerald when he finally reached them and linked his fingers with Phoebe's.

Helga blinked, a little surprised. She raised a brow in question.

Gerald gave her an odd look. "But I told him that you and Phoebe had already agreed to riding with Sheena and Nadine."

"Hi Phoebe! Hi Helga!" said a bright cheery voice and Helga felt a small twitch in her right eye. She turned to look at Lila and Sid who had just joined their newly formed group. She was wearing a green plaid bikini, nowhere near as revealing as Rhonda's but much more than Helga's conservative pink one piece.

Helga made the attempt to smile. "Hi."

"I was oh so glad to hear that you were coming, Helga," Lila continued. "It feels as though it's been forever since I've spoken to you."

 _For good reason._ Helga stopped herself in time before rolling her eyes. "Oh well you know me, quite the busy be, had loads of stuff to do here and there."

"Oh… of course."

"Hey, do you guys want to play volleyball with us?" asked Arnold, having not noticed the awkward silence that played between the two girls. "We were waiting for a few more people."

Helga looked around at them and realized that when Arnold meant 'we' he had also included Lila. Helga shrugged. She wasn't going to let Little Miss Perfect mess up her vacation. "Eh, sure, why not?"

"Great!" Arnold smiled and led the way back to the beach.

…

If anyone had asked Rhonda Wellington Lloyd what she would be forever known for, she would answer that she had a great sense of fashion and that she could provide an impressively good time at any sort of gathering.

After they had returned from the beach, catering of Hawaiian themed food had arrived at the house. Harold had immediately gone for the food and Rhonda had followed right behind him, reminding him that he needed to remain below 220lbs if he was even thinking about taking her to the senior prom. Harold had ignored her.

Everyone else had had a great time, even Helga as she sat next to Sid and Phoebe and joined Sid in making fun of Stinky's speedos. The only blight on an otherwise enjoyable night was that she had noticed that Arnold was sitting next to Lila. Although he had spent most of his time talking to Eugene, he had spent a good amount of time also talking with Lila.

 _What do I care?_ Helga scoffed to herself and turned her gaze away. But when she found herself unintentionally turning back to look at him, she found herself staring into a pair of green orbs. Surprised, she had just stared back at him for a minute before he grinned and waved.

Helga rolled her eyes but inside, she felt just a tiny bit happier.

"Alright, people!" Rhonda yelled when the food was cleared away and the caterers left. "Now it's time for the games!"

Several people groaned, including Harold who yelled out, "Do we have to?"

Rhonda ignored that and smiled at the rest of them. "Well I'm sure that most of you will be glad to know that these games will include… alcohol."

"Now you're talking!" cried out Sid.

"Uh Rhonda…" Arnold spoke up, "We're only 17 and there are no adults here."

"That's the point, Arnold," said Rhonda rather patiently.

"I do believe Arnold is right, Rhonda. This could result in some very dire consequences were we to get caught," chimed in Phoebe.

Rhonda rolled her eyes. "We're 17, guys, we'll be graduating for college in exactly 1 year and do you want to the next and extremely important chapter of your new adult lives to start without you having once had an 'adult' party?"

And somehow, that was that. And 10 minutes later everyone was gathered in the large living room with a beer in hand or in the case of Rhonda, a cosmopolitan.

"Alright, Miss Rhonda, what kind of game did you have in mind?" asked Stinky, sitting down on the couch next to Nadine.

Rhonda grinned, "Well I thought that since this is the first alcoholic party for most of you, moi not included, I thought we'd play a game with said beverage."

Helga was standing next to Phoebe and Gerald. "Just spit it out already."

Rhonda ignored that. "We'll play 'Dare or Drink'."

"What in the heck is that?" asked Stinky.

"I believe it's a derivative of the classical game 'Truth or Dare', Stinky. The asker demands a dare of the person and if he or she refuses to take part in the dare, he or she must drink," Phoebe supplied.

"Exactly!" said Rhonda. She moved to the back of the living room to the area that separated it from the dining room. "Everyone sit down and form a circle."

There were a few grumbles but they all did as they were told. Helga sat down between Stinky and Eugene who as he was sitting down stumbled and would have fallen over had Helga not grabbed onto his arm.

"You alright there?" Helga asked disinterestedly, knowing with Eugene's history of misfortune, a near fall was nothing he could not handle.

Eugene smiled at her widely. "Yeah, gee, thanks Helga."

"Yeah, think nothing of it, bucko" she grumbled. She released her grip from Eugene's arm and looked up to see Arnold sitting right across from her in the large circle, watching her with a small smile on his face.

Helga turned her gaze away, rolling her eyes as she did so. But inside, her heart took on a slightly more rapid rhythm. _Why the does he keep looking at me like that?_

"Alright," said Rhonda, sitting down between Harold and Sid. "The game works like this, I will pick someone out of you to dare then that person decides to either do the dare or drink then that person gets to ask the next person. Got it? Good, now I'll start." She looked around the circle and her eyes settled on Sid. "Alright, Sid I dare you to… tell everyone what you find the most attractive about Sheena's _body_ and why."

"What?" said Sid, sitting straighter. It was obvious that he hadn't been paying attention. Phoebe, who had been sitting on his other side whispered the question to him as Rhonda glared. "Oh right, well." He looked at Sheena who looked obviously uncomfortable. "I think Sheena has uh, very pretty uh… legs. Uh yeah that's right, legs!"

"And why?" asked Rhonda in a very exasperated voice.

"Huh? Oh right, because she's tall and they're very shapely kind of like a dancer's." Sheena sported a tiny blush on her face.

"Alright, Sid," said Rhonda noticeably disappointed that her dare hadn't led to something juicier, "You pick the next person to dare and don't you dare dare someone to do something gross like drink out of the toilet."

"Yeah, yeah," said Sid as he looked around the room. "Alright Herald, I dare you to tell Rhonda what you find the most annoying about her."

Herald's eyes widened. Rhonda turned to him, her eyes lowered, ready to form into a glare. "Yes, _Herald_ ," she said, "tell me what you find the most _annoying_ about me."

"Uh— Uh—" Wisely, Herald took a swig of his beer instead.

"Well!" said Rhonda.

"Alright, it's Herald's turn now," stepped in Gerald, halting the fight that looked as though was about to transpire.

"Okay, uh— uh—" Herald looked around the room and his eyes settled on Arnold. "Arnold! I dare you to uh— uh—"

"Geez, hurry it up, pink boy!" said Helga, rolling her eyes.

"I'm thinkin' I'm thinkin'!"

Helga scoffed. "By the time that brain of yours comes up with anything, we'll all be fossilized like the dang dinosaurs."

Herald's eyes narrowed. "Okay, Arnold," he said with surprisingly conviction in his voice, "I dare you to… kiss Helga G. Pataki!"

The room became silent and all eyes landed on Arnold, whose own eyes widened and whose face flushed beneath their gaze. All eyes, that is, except Helga's who was still staring at Harold and whose body had somehow entered a state of stasis. _A-Arnold kiss her? Was he mad? He would drink, surely, he'll drink!_

Arnold coughed and Helga turned her head to look at him. He was looking right back at her.

"Well, Arnold?" said Rhonda, clearly enjoying the tension. "Are you going to kiss her or are you going to drink?"

Silence. Helga swallowed. _Drink, football head, drink!_

But to her great surprise, and quite arguably the greatest surprise she had ever experienced in her young life, Arnold silently stood and very slowly, almost achingly slowly, made his way to her. The room was dead silent. Arnold's soft footsteps serving as a charged staccato in the miserable, bleak stillness that Helga knew filled her dreary, beating core. Then suddenly he was in front of her and Helga knew her eyes must have looked as though they were ready to pop out of her sockets. He didn't smile. There was no question, no reassurance, no affirmation. And only a pathetic distance separated them. Then Helga heard it. At first, a gentle rhythmic beating that she had mistaken for her nervously uttered heart. But then it had grown louder and suddenly she felt it. It was banging. It was beating. It was bashing at something Helga could not, no, would not name.

 _How could she bear this? How could he make her bear this?_

 _Why won't that knocking stop?_

Soft lips suddenly touched hers in a gentle caress. So sweet in its brevity, so aching in its tenderness that for a moment, she completely forgot to breathe.

Helga slowly opened her eyes. _Had they been closed the whole time?_

And she peered into the green orbs of the boy, who heart had been her ticket, her coin to give to Charon in order to cross the River of Pain. But she knew, now she knew, that he had cross Acheron himself having given Charon his coin and having taken with him her own heart.

 _Oh Arnold_ … Knock… Knock… and her soul shattered into a million pieces…

…

 **Writer's Notes** : Whoo! Well, this was a very trying chapter! The last few paragraphs were very intense to write so much so that I almost felt like Helga and goodness, what a tortured soul she is. Haha, I certainly wouldn't be able to live like that for long. And sorry that the ending was super dramatic! I wanted the reader to start feeling the desperation and confusion of Helga as she was placed in a situation that became a pivotal moment in her new and matured love for Arnold.

Lol no matter how you think of Rhonda, you must admit that she is very useful for a change of scenery and bringing a little spice into any dynamic between Arnold and Helga. Also I want to just make clear that I don't dislike Lila. I'll admit that her personality does give me nonexistent cavities but I don't dislike her in the least. In fact, I think she's very nice but she is a key turning point in Helga and Arnold's relationship as you will see later. I just wanted to put it out there that I am going to keep the foundations of her character as they are in the series.

Some of you have posted some very very nice comments and I can't even begin to express just how grateful I am for them!

However I did want to answer/respond to a couple of the questions/comments so here we go:

 **Smooth Pancakes** : Thanks so much for continuing to read and commenting on the story! I agree that there will definitely be quite a bit of tumultuous times between the two. How can there not with Helga being Helga?

 **Ezza** : Thank you! And I hope I don't disappoint you with future chapters either!

 **Anotherloveroffanfiction** : Wow that is such a nice thing to say! Thank you so much! But unfortunately, I am actually just a little bit disappointed with the published chapters and wish I had enough patience to have done a few more drafts before publishing them. However, I know myself— if I had gone through as many drafts as I wanted to, I would soon tire of this series and it'll never get done. But I may as I continue to write this update the previous chapters to be on par with my expectations of them. I love the Hey Arnold cartoon and I want to do them the justice they deserve!

 **Guest** : Thank you for your comments! As a response to your question "but isn't it October not during the summer?" It's really just my recollection but I believe the break before a new year of school (at least here in the US for high school) is from mid-July to early-September. Again, I'm not entirely certain lol so I'm just making it so for my story!


	6. A Cave, a Boy, and a Smile

**A Cave, a Boy, and a Smile**

Hell hath truly frozen over. It must have, there could have been no other explanation as to the simultaneous feeling of both cold and hot surges that coursed through Helga's body.

Arnold had chosen the dare. The kiss had happened and Helga had broken.

It was such a simple thing, a light thing really, a touch of the lips.

In fact, it was so light that Helga could vaguely hear some of her idiot friends complain that it had hardly been a kiss. So strange that such a touch, such a light simple touch made her see, no, made her admit that she had never stop loving Arnold. That it had all been a façade, a lie she had told herself again and again most likely to ward off the pain that teenage life had thrown upon her as well as the realization her younger self came to that Arnold would never ever love her.

Such a strange thing to have an important realization while being surrounded by longtime friends, most of whom were approaching inebriation for the first times in their lives. Such a strange thing to watch as Stinky took his first gulp of beer having refused to do his dare and let out a huge burp that made the table near them shake and Sid laugh so hard that the beer he had been drinking moments ago came spilling out of his nose. Such a strange thing to see your best friend giggle behind her hand as she watched the antics of their friends and then leaned into her first and potentially her most cherished childhood love. And then there was Arnold. Such a strange thing to watch him laugh so gaily so freely as waves and waves of soul shattering realizations and feelings came reeling into her all because of a simple, tiny touch of his lips on hers.

"Hmm, I am oh so certain that I should choose Helga to do a dare" said a voice that broke into her reverie.

Helga whipped her head up. Of course, why not complete her off right then and there? Just break her completely.

Lila was smiling at her and so, Helga realized, was Arnold. She would have done anything, given anything at that very moment to be somewhere else, anywhere else.

"Helga, I dare you to… narrate one of your poems."

 _What_?

"What?" responded Helga.

Lila smiled, that annoyingly perfect and nice smile. "I know you write poems, Helga. Mrs. Finnegan couldn't sing your praises enough last year when I took her American Romanticism poetry course. She had said that you may potentially be the finest poet to have ever come out of Hillwood High." She sighed. "And I would oh so love to hear one."

"Helga? Poetry?" asked Harold, incredulously.

"Oh gee, I would love to hear one too," chimed in Eugene.

Others jumped in with their own opinions and comments but Helga wasn't having any of it.

"No," said Helga firmly and watched with a perverse satisfaction as Little Miss Perfect's smile fell from her face. Lila said no more so Helga brought her beer to her face and took a long drink, downing half in that one gulp.

"Uh Helga…" came Phoebe's soft voice.

Helga wiped her lips on the back of her hand. She nodded, "My turn, right?" She looked around the room, she didn't want to play this game any longer, she needed to dare someone something to occupy the rest of them. She noticed that Herald had already drunk 4 bottles of beer. _Perfect_. "Alright, pig boy." _Time for some revenge_. "I dare you to go skinny dipping in the ocean."

"What? Awww, I'm out of beer!"

"Well you know what that means, Herald," laughed Stinky.

"Yeah, Herald," Sid hiccupped. "I guess you'll have to go in the water with your naked butt hanging out! Hahaha."

"Aww, isn't there any more beer?" he whined.

"No, Herald," said Rhonda firmly. "You already had four and everyone else is on their second one. You have no choice. Just do the dare."

"Aww, fine!" Herald stood up and made his way to the glass doors that separated them and the beach. "But you guys better not look when I take off my clothes!"

"Trust me, my friend. No one is gonna wanna look at that," said Gerald as he and Phoebe walked through the glass door. The rest of their friends giggled and quickly followed, making jokes at Herald's expense as they did so.

And soon, Helga was left alone in the living room. Sighing with relief, she turned the corner with the intention of heading up the stairs to her room when she bumped hard into something and was knocked ungracefully onto the floor.

"Are you okay, Helga?" A concerned oblong face stared down at her.

She shook her head. "A-Arnold?" He was still standing and she found that odd for when they had bumped into each other in the past, it had always resulted with both of them on the ground.

He offered a hand, which Helga merely looked at. "What are you still doing here?" she asked him.

"I noticed you didn't follow. I wanted to see if you were okay."

She stood, not having taken his offered hand. "Of course I'm okay, football head!"

Worried her response may have been too forceful, she snuck a peak at him but noticed that he merely smiled, his eyelids slightly lowered. "Uh so, you know that I'm fine, you can go back now." She avoided his gaze.

"Helga…"

"W-What?"

"About that kiss..."

Her eyes quickly returned to his face. "W-What about it?"

"I just wanted to make sure that you weren't… upset by it."

She blinked. "Upset?... Why would I be upset?"

He rubbed the back of his arm. "Well 'cause we're friends now…" _Friends_. "You know, it was just a stupid game and because I uh, kissed you without asking, I just wanted to make sure that you weren't angry."

"Oh… r-right." _Snap out of it, Helg_ a! _He's going to know something's wrong_. She inwardly shook her head and shrugged, trying her hardest to put on a casual smile. "Eh, don't worry about it, football head. It was just a kiss, right? I've kissed plenty of other guys, what's one tiny peck?"

"Oh."

Helga looked at him; his brows were scrunched together in thought. If he could just leave! Then maybe her torment would be over.

"Right. Okay, well, I… guess I'll head back, then." He turned to leave but then paused and turned back to look at her. "You know, Helga—"

But then he paused, causing Helga to ask. "What is it, football head?"

He looked at her for just a moment longer, soft pink coloring his cheeks. "I wanted to say that … I thought– I thought the kiss was really nice…" Then he smiled at her and walked out of the house toward the beach, leaving Helga wide eyed and finally alone.

…

Helga had gone to bed early that night and woke up early the following morning. While she wasn't exactly the beach going type, she did enjoy the scenery and the calm feeling of walking alone on the sand or staring out into the ocean. And since she was also feeling in a self-reflective mood, she decided to take a walk.

The morning was nice and cool unlike the previous day where the sun had shone powerfully onto the beach and all its inhabitants. It was a perfect time for a meditative stroll.

Helga made her way down to the shore and ambled along the water's edge, watching as wave after wave greeted the sand.

She sighed. Her night had been fretful and she hadn't had a good night's rest. Thoughts of Arnold had filled her head: his kiss, his words, and to her agony, her dreadful history with him as well as the pain when she realized that he hadn't cared that they had stopped talking. She tortured herself with questions of whether perhaps he liked her. He had sought her out quite a bit in the past few weeks and he had said some nice things to her. And—

 _Helga, you idiot, get a hold of yourself! You're reading into things. This is Arnold we're talking about here! Mr. goody two shoes. He's nice to everybody!_

That was the problem with Arnold, she decided as she walked along the sand, coming across a path way that led up to the cliffs that flanked the left side of the beach. He was so dang nice to everyone, always helping people, always saying nice things that there was absolutely no way in knowing if… if there was someplace for that gigantic, precious heart for her.

She kicked a small rock and watched it slide off the edge of the path and continued climbing to the cliffs above.

Helga sighed. _What was the point? What did it matter?_ She had already confessed her love to him once. And he had been horrified. And she had been horrified. So they had chalked it up to the heat of the moment. He didn't love her then. And she hadn't changed much since so why would he love her now?

Helga looked up, surprised to see that she was at the top of the cliff. She looked out into the ocean, it was so oddly quiet. _Does too the ocean rest in slumber?_

She sighed again and looked at the ground, searching for another rock to kick and somehow found herself turned around, facing an unexpected opening of a cave. From the path, the cave had not been visible. The opening wasn't very large; perhaps two average sized people could walk through it if they were side by side, shoulders touching. Strange too that the light from the newly risen sun did not extend beyond the threshold of the mouth, it was as if the cave was swallowing the sun's rays.

Helga found herself unusually curious. Cocking her head, she looked around her. She was alone. Exploring unknown caves wasn't exactly a sensible decision and Helga G. Pataki had a lot of common sense but –

"Pft what do I care?" said Helga to herself. Exploring wasn't her thing. She never cared for caves or mysteries. No… but it was something a dense football headed boy would be interested in. She scoffed again.

She looked back at the cave. Why was she thinking so hard about this? It was just a stupid cave. So, she walked in.

Contrary to her errant imagination, the inside of the cave was just like any other. It was dark, damp, and littered with stalagmites. There was an odd whooshing sound that echoed on its walls. The cave itself was quite small, not going too far back or at least Helga thought so until she saw a small opening toward the rear. She shrugged. _Might as well._

The whooshing sound was getting louder the closer she got to the hole. And just as she stepped over a rather deep grove on the floor that led into the small opening, she felt her foot stop in midair. Suddenly it was searching for purchase and her body fell forward, hitting absolutely nothing but air.

Desperately, Helga reached out and grabbed at the wall, her body willing itself to survive. Thankfully, her fingers wrapped around an awkward hollow, which prevented her from falling into what she could now see was an opening that led below to jagged rocks kissed by the deadly waves of the ocean.

Helga grunted and tried to pull herself up but the walls were damp. She felt her eyes widen and her heart palpitate. She couldn't save herself.

 _Arnold_ …

Then abruptly, she heard footsteps. It was a bit faint so Helga surmised that it was just outside the caves.

"Hey!" she yelled. "Hey! I need help in here!"

Only silence answered her. But she hadn't heard footsteps retreating… so the person must still be there, right?

"Hello?" came a tentative voice from what she assumed was the mouth of the cave. Then she heard footsteps, the sound was echoing off the walls. The person was coming toward her.

"Hey!" she yelled back, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice. Her fingers were absorbing the moisture of the wall, making it increasingly difficult for her to keep her grip. "I'm hanging by a rock! I'm about to fall!"

"Don't worry— I'm coming!" A guy's voice. The rapidity of the footsteps increased. The person was running.

A head abruptly peered over the edge of the small cliff. The cave was dark but she thought she saw— green eyes?

"Arnold?" she called out.

"Hold on just a second longer, okay?" he yelled and his head disappeared over the edge. "I'm going to find something to pull you up!"

Suddenly a cloth was thrown down to only an inch away from Helga's face. Thankfully, she wasn't too far from the top.

"Grab on! I'll pull you up!"

Helga reached over and grasped the cloth with her right hand then when she was sure, her grip was firm, she let go of the wall with the other and lunged herself onto the shirt. Abruptly she was pulled up safely onto the floor of the cave.

Helga was on her hands and knees, her gaze glued to the floor, breathing hard. Beside her, she could hear the labored breathing of her rescuer.

A hand was placed on her shoulder and Helga looked up. Her rescuer was male and he had green eyes but it was the wrong ones. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah," Helga breathed, trying to stand. The guy immediately moved to help her up. Helga's arms felt like jello and her legs were not much better.

"Lean on me."

Helga's body complied of its own accord and together, they walked out of the cave.

Bright light shined upon her face only when she had fully stepped outside the threshold of her near death experience and Helga turned to look upon her rescuer. Dark hair, not blond. Green eyes so similar in shade to Arnold's. Tall. Normal shaped head. Handsome. And uh… half naked?

Helga noticed the guy blushed and she willed herself not to do the same.

"I uh used my shirt to pull you up," he explained, pink still staining his cheeks as he started leading her back down the cliff.

Helga averted her eyes as the "Uh… where is it?"

"It fell down the cliff when you got to the top."

"Oh… sorry."

"It's alright" and Helga could hear his smile.

They reached the sand and the guy turned to her, "Where are you going? I'll take you back."

Helga pointed in the direction of Rhonda's beach house. Normally, she would have declined his offer but her legs were still shaking and her arms were as heavy as lead. They walked back in silence but Helga could feel the guy's eyes on her on more than one occasion. She too was acutely aware of her the fact that his naked torso was pressed against her side.

"Helga!" yelled a voice when they neared the house.

Helga looked up and her eyes widened at seeing Arnold, Rhonda, and Phoebe. They rushed toward her. "Are you okay?" asked Arnold and Helga found herself being softly pulled away from the guy whose name she realized just then that she did not know.

Arnold had gently grabbed her by the wrist and drew her to face him. His brows were scrunched up in concern.

"Helga, your face," said Phoebe

"What about my face?"

"Oh Helga, that is such a nasty cut," chimed in Rhonda.

Helga raised her arm slowly for it felt as though she had just held up the earth as Atlas once did. She felt a warm liquid and winced when she touched a particular spot upon her temple.

"What happened?" asked Arnold. Helga saw his eyes dart momentarily to her rescuer before returning to her. He looked confused.

Helga shook her head. "I stupidly went into a cave and nearly fell into the ocean. That guy over there saved me." She cocked her head to no-name's direction.

"Oak, thank god you were there!" said Rhonda. Helga turned wide eyes to her. "But why, I must know" she continued, "are you without a shirt?"

Helga saw the guy – Oak? – blush and grinned awkwardly. "I used my shirt to pull her up and it fell into the water."

"How do you guys know each other?" Phoebe asked, her sharp eyes jumping from Oak to Rhonda's face.

"I invited him, of course." When the rest of the party merely stared at her, she rolled her eyes. "He's our new exchange student. Honestly, do you guys know anything about what is going on at our school? He's been with us since the winter break."

"Well, anyways," interrupted Helga, "thanks... If it hadn't been for you, well, you know." She gave him a small smile.

In comparison, the smile Oak sent back was wide. "What is your name?" he asked her, surprising her momentarily.

"Helga," she said. Then as an afterthought, reached out her hand but dropped it immediately when she felt her muscles clench in pain. How long had she been holding onto the hollow in the wall? She turned away from the group and toward the house, her eyes momentarily grazing Arnold, who was staring at Oak. "Now if you all will excuse me, I think I'll go lie down."

…

Arnold had woken up earlier that morning with a slight haziness to his mind. He knew immediately that it was the aftereffects of the alcohol he had consumed the previous night, though he had only drunk a few bottles of beer. Groaning slightly, he pulled himself from his bed and headed to the bathroom, splashing his face with cold water, which marginally decreased his mind's cloudiness.

He vaguely remembered the previous night. There was Rhonda's silly game and the nice kiss he had shared with Helga, albeit on a dare, and then Harold had jumped naked into the ocean but after that, his memory was a little fuzzy.

He looked at the time, it was nearing 9 and he had promised to meet Lila for breakfast. Arnold took a quick shower and headed out the door but ran into Phoebe.

"Hey Phoebe."

Phoebe looked up, "Oh, hello Arnold."

"Are you looking for something?"

"In fact, I am. I can't seem to find Helga anywhere." Her brows scrunched up in concern, "We had plans to meet up for breakfast at 8 and Helga is hardly ever this late." It was already 9:30.

He had plans with Lila but if something had happened to Helga… "I'll help you look," he said after only a moment's hesitation.

They made their way outside, where Rhonda was sitting on a lawn chair, drinking a cup of coffee, wearing a sun hat and sunglasses. "Where are you two going?" she called out.

"We're looking for Helga," said Arnold, not looking back as he and Phoebe made their way toward the beach. He heard a bit of shuffling behind him and knew that Rhonda was getting up to join them.

"And why are you looking for her?" she asked once she reached their side.

But Arnold didn't have a chance to respond for his eyes had fallen upon the outline of two figures making their way slowly toward them.

"Helga!" he yelled and watched as her head immediately shot up at the sound of his voice. She winced.

Why was there blood on her face? Why was she staggering? And… why was she with a half dressed man?

Arnold rushed forward with Phoebe and Rhonda at his heels. Helga's eyes were wide and Arnold grasped her arm gently with his hand and subtly tugged her toward him and away from the stranger. "Are you okay?" he asked her.

He looked closely at her face. A nasty cut ran from her temple to the top of her cheek and a trail of mostly dried blood ended at the edge of her jaw. She looked pale and unsteady. _What had happened?_

"Helga, your face," exclaimed Phoebe, softly.

Helga's eyes turned away from him to look at her. "What about my face?"

"Oh Helga, that is _such_ a nasty cut," chimed in Rhonda, who was now standing next to the stranger.

Arnold watched as Helga slowly touched her temple and drew her hand back to look at the blood. "What happened?" he asked. He was getting increasingly uncomfortable. If this stranger had done something to her there was no way Helga would have allowed him to walk her back, right?

But her explanation made him feel just as bad and Arnold felt a little bit of the blood drain from his cheeks. Helga had nearly died…

Rhonda's next question pulled him out of his thoughts. "And why, I must know, are you without a shirt?"

Arnold glanced up to see the guy— Oak Rhonda had called him, blush as he explained. That made Arnold feel unexpectedly a bit less apprehensive about him.

Rhonda's answer to Phoebe's question put Arnold a bit more at ease. This Oak guy wasn't a stranger, he was a classmate and well, he had saved Helga.

"Well, anyways," interrupted Helga, as she turned a bit in his grasp to look at Oak. Arnold reluctantly let go. "Thanks... If it hadn't been for you, well, you know." She gave him a small smile and Arnold felt his left eye twitch. _That was weird._

"Now if you all will excuse me, I think I'll go lie down."

Arnold turned from Oak to look at Helga. Her back was already turned to him and she was making her way back to the house. He blinked. She was leaving.

Arnold moved to follow her but a gentle hand stopped him in his tracks. He looked down to see Phoebe, who gave him a small smile and shook her head. "She'll be fine, Arnold," she said softly, "but she will want to be alone."

Arnold reluctantly nodded and turned back to face Rhonda and Oak.

"Well Oak, thank god you were there when you were. What _were_ you doing there anyways?" asked Rhonda.

Oak shrugged, "Well, I arrived early this morning but everyone was asleep so I went for a jog. I heard her yelling from within the cave so I went in to check it out."

"Good thing you did too, I would hate to think what would have happened if you hadn't."

Arnold was thinking the same thing.

If he hadn't, then Helga would have…

…

"Arnold, are you ever so alright?" came a soft voice that pulled Arnold out of his thoughts.

He looked up. Lila was staring back at him with a concerned expression.

"Yeah, Lila. Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that you've had your fork in front of your face for the past 2 minutes and you still haven't taken a bite."

Arnold looked down and a fork full of scrambled eggs looked back at him. He set his fork down quickly and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Lila."

Lila smiled. "Oh it's ever so fine, Arnold. What with the morning events being so traumatic, I believe your behavior is quite excusable. I do hope Helga is alright though."

"Yeah… so do I."

"I know that you two have gotten really close this summer," Lila continued slowly. "It's quite normal to feel distressed when your friend was in such a distressing situation."

Arnold was quiet for a moment but then smiled at her. "Thanks, Lila."

"You're ever so welcome, Arnold. After all, you and even Helga are very important to me."

He frowned at that, his thoughts finally away from the events of the morning and Helga. "Lila… have you— have you given any more thought to what I asked you before you left for the summer?"

Lila had been in the process of lifting a spoonful of yogurt when she paused and looked at Arnold. She slowly set her spoon back down. "Why, yes, I have, Arnold…"

Arnold looked at her in silence, trying to be patient.

"I was hoping," she continued slowly, "you would be ever so kind to give me just one more day to think about it?"

Arnold sighed. He had waited eight years, what would another day matter? "Sure, Lila," he said.

She smiled warmly at him and picked up her spoon again. He smiled in returned. But in comparison, it felt just a little bit forced.

…

 **Writer's Notes** : Hello! Sorry for the delay in posting! I wasn't sure how I wanted this chapter to unfold so it had taken me a few days to kind of figure it out.

Anyways, thank you guys for your likes and comments! I really appreciate them and would love to hear more from you!

Guest, thank you for letting me know about October! I was actually looking for the date of his parents' disappearance but for the life of me, I couldn't find it. I had no idea the story said they left on Arnold's birthday. So I think what I will do then lol is say that in this Hey Arnold world, Phil and Gertie got news of his parent's disappearance the following July or August and thus, considered that to be the day they disappeared. No idea if this messes up the time line but I think I may just have to take that small liberty. Hopefully the rest of the story will stay on par with Bartlett's narrative!


	7. A Flirt, a Scare, and a Touch of a Heart

**A Flirt, a Scare, and a Touch of a Heart**

"I don't get it, man" said Gerald as he lounged on Arnold's bed in the room Rhonda had assigned him. He was throwing a beach ball up in the air. "This girl has rejected you how many times? And not just that, I thought you were over her. You haven't shown the slightest interest in Lila since then 8th grade and then you asked her out a day before school ends? What happened, man?"

"I don't know, Gerald," said Arnold. He was sitting on the cushioned couch with the damasked fabric that was in every room in Rhonda's beach house. "I had a World History with her last year and I guess we started talking more and it just got me thinking how much I used to like her."

Arnold could almost feel Gerald roll his eyes as he threw the ball, caught it, and threw it again. "It sounds to me like it's just nostalgia."

Arnold sighed. "It's more than that, Gerald. It's more like I want to make sure I'm not missing out by not trying. I've liked her since the 4th grade and we were always really good friends. There's a reason for that, there's got to be."

Gerald was quiet for a moment. The only sound in the room was the sound from the ball hitting Gerald's hand and rushing through the air as Gerald propelled it back upward. Then he stopped and turned around to face Arnold, the ball tucked under his arm. "Alright, but let me ask you this – Do you like her?"

"Yeah, I like her."

"No, Arnold. Do you like her, you know, like her like her."

Arnold grinned, they hadn't used that word since the 6th grade but it seemed to suit the moment. Arnold shook his head, still smiling. "I don't know yet but I like her and I think there's a real potential that I'll like her like her."

"Alright, man. I had always said you were a bold kid. I guess you wouldn't be you if you didn't at least try." Then as if an afterthought, Gerald continued, "So then what are you going to do about Pataki?"

Arnold looked at him in surprised. What did Helga have to do with this?

"Come on, man, you can't be that dense."

"What are you talking about?" he asked in genuine confusion.

"You've been spending all your summer with that girl and she let you."

"Yeah but Helga's, you know, nicer. You heard Sid and Stinky, she even hangs out with them."

"Yeah but Arnold, you two are different. The way you two hang out is not like how any other friends hang out. Sometimes you look at her in this weird way. To be honest, it's kind of creepy. And not just that, she's different. I mean she's still Helga but—like her eyes get wide every time you do something nice for her."

Silence. "Maybe it's because not a lot of people do a lot of nice things for her," said Arnold, slowly.

Gerald shook his head, looking at his best friend with a slightly exasperated expression.

"Look Gerald, I like Helga. To be honest, I like her a lot more than I thought I would when she first moved into the boarding house but I'm sure, no, I know that I don't like her in that way."

Gerald gave him a long look and Arnold was starting to get annoyed when Gerald shrugged, turned back onto his back and started throwing the ball again. "Alright, whatever you say, man. I just hope you're not doing something you're going to regret later."

…

"Alright, tutz" said Helga not bothering to keep the exasperation out of her voice as she pushed Harold and Sid out of the way to get to Rhonda, "explain why you have me sitting next to treestub _again_?"

Rhonda continued to stare at her hand mirror. She carefully pushed a strand of hair back into place. "Why Helga, I don't know _what_ you are talking about."

Helga ground her teeth together. She had woken in the early afternoon in somewhat of a bad mood, understandably she thought considering that morning's events. She had gone downstairs just in time to head out with her group of friends to a nearby place for some burgers, much to Rhonda's chagrin. She had greeted Phoebe, assured her that she was okay and had started to walk out with the rest of her friends when Oak had appeared and starting walking at her side.

At first, because he had saved her, she was on what she thought was her best behavior. She had even asked him, in return to his own query, how he fared to which he had replied "None the worse for wear" and had shot her a grin that even Helga had to admit was charming albeit in a slightly annoying and cliché way.

Everything had been going smoothly with a nice, uncomfortable silence, which Helga preferred to to talking when they had overhead Sheena asking Rhonda and Nadine a question.

"Of course, I'd be the princess, Sheena. Do you even have to ask?" Rhonda had replied.

Helga scoffed, causing them to turn to look at them. "And what about you, Helga," asked Sheena, "if you had your own fairy tale, what role would you play?"

Helga rolled her eyes and the Oak guy shot her a curious glance. The question was annoying. What were they— 10? And how the heck would she know what role she'd play in in her own fairy tale? The fairy godmother? Please, as if _she'd_ grant random strangers wishes. The ugly sisters? She inwardly rolled her eyes, thinking of Olga, she already was one. The hag? To eat some annoying brats? Eh, maybe. The false hero? –

"She'd be the protagonist, don't you think?" Oak had chimed in, pulling Helga from her thoughts. She looked at him. What the hell was he talking about?

He looked back at her momentarily and grinned before turning his gaze back to the other girls. "Everyone should be the main characters in their own story. I'll admit from the short time I've known Helga, I can't really see her as being a helpless princess so… maybe the queen? Maybe even the main hero in place of the prince?"

Helga gave him a look. _What the hell was this guy?_

She watched as Rhonda gave Oak a shrewd look and suddenly smiled. Helga felt uncomfortable. "So then that… should make _you_ her knight."

Helga gave her a look that bespoke vengeance but then Oak had laughed. He turned to Helga, "Yeah, I guess that's right, you know, with my saving you and all." He grinned. "Maybe I should call you Lady Guinevere and you can call me Lancelot."

Helga rolled her eyes and had opened her mouth to respond to that ridiculous suggestion, when she heard a sigh and a voice join in on their conversation. "Oh that is ever so romantic." She turned to see Lila and Arnold walking toward them. _Where had they been?_

Arnold's gaze was steady on her's and Helga felt her face heat up.

Oak turned to Lila and smiled politely. "Hi," he said and held out a hand, "I'm Oak."

Lila smiled back and Helga watched Arnold as he stared at the exchange carefully. _Of course_. She had to physically stop herself from rolling her eyes again. "Hi, I'm Lila and I'm ever so glad to meet you. I've heard quite a bit about how you had saved Helga this morning. It was oh so brave of you."

Helga rolled her eyes but the Oak guy smiled and shrugged. "I'm just glad I was there in time." Then he turned to the person next to her and said, "Hey Arnold."

"Hey Oak," Arnold replied but it sounded marginally less friendly compared to his normal greeting. However, it seemed no one else but Helga had noticed.

"Where were you two?" asked Rhonda.

"Arnold and I had breakfast and we had taken an oh-so nice walk on the beach."

Helga's gaze narrowed but suddenly felt a pair of eyes on her. She turned to see Oak watching her. "What?" she mouthed, no longer bothering to be nice to her rescuer.

"Come on, guys, I'm starving," he said loudly, suddenly. He shot her a cheeky grin and grabbed her hand in his and started again toward the restaurant.

Eyes wide, Helga yanked her hand back. "Hey bucko, who said you could touch me!" From the corner of her eye, she saw Arnold watching her with a frown.

Oak looked momentarily stunned at her outburst but a second later, he grinned and gave her a mock bow. "My humblest apologies, Lady _Guinevere._ " He offered her the crook of his arm instead, his grin teasing, "if you would allow this lowly knight to escort you?"

Helga grumbled to herself, her cheeks pink from embarrassment, ignored his offered arm, and marched ahead.

Oak turned to the rest of the group and gave them an apologetic shrug then grinned and hurried ahead to catch up to the retreating girl.

Now it was night and they were sitting around a bonfire on the beach and Helga had somehow again found herself sitting next to Oak. It was the 4th time that day alone. At first, she had thought it was just because the guy liked to annoy her, of which he had proven to be extremely good at with his exaggerated bows and obnoxiously playful grins but then when Rhonda had arranged assigned seating around the bonfire, Helga knew.

She had stood up, walked pass Oak, who had stopped talking to Sid to look at her, walked pass Arnold who too stopped what he was doing to watch her and made her way to where the princess sat, staring at her reflection in the small mirror.

"Well isn't it obvious, Helga?" she had said, finally responding to Helga's query and lifting her head to look her in the eyes. She snapped her mirror shut. When Helga didn't say anything, she shrugged one shoulder. "That charming boy over there… likes you."

"Alright princess," Helga said slowly after a second. "I don't know what you're playing at here but –"

"I'm not playing at anything, Helga" said Rhonda as she stood, brushing past her, "but if you choose to ignore such a fine specimen of the human male, then by all means do so but don't come crying to me when you find yourself alone again and on your final year of high school." She walked back to her spot and Helga could tell from the looks of the wide-eyed spectators that Gerald had begun a tale.

Annoyed and grumbling to herself, Helga made her way back to her seat, ignoring Oak's grin and whispered "Welcome back" as she sat down. She scooted a few inches away from him. Oak's wide smile, which indicated that he had noticed, annoyed her even further.

"Now the two farmer boys didn't like the third kid for he was fat, lazy, never helped on the farms, and he constantly bossed them around. Then one day after a grueling time in the field, the two boys came home to find that the third had taken credit for all their work. Angry, the two boys hatched a plan that night to play a trick on the fat boy—"

"Hey!"

"Shut up, Harold."

Gerald cleared his throat. "As I was saying, they made plans for a prank on the… larger boy as revenge. The next day they invited him out for a couple of beers in the woods. They brought the alcohol and had even chauffeured the big boy there but all he did was drink and complain about how uncomfortable the ground was. The two boys were more than annoyed and when the big boy, who had consumed nearly all of the beer by himself, ordered them to get more as he drunkenly called them names and laughed at his own jokes they knew it was time to play out their prank. Now the prank wasn't very elaborate, it was simply to get the boy drunk and then leave him in the woods. They were certain that when he came to, he'd be terrified out of his mind and their simple revenge plan would be complete.

"After saying they'd be back with a new pack of beer, the boys got into their truck and was about to pull out when a woman suddenly appeared in front of their car, blocking them from leaving." Gerald paused and stared at his wide eyed friends.

"The boys froze, wondering what the woman was doing there by herself at that time of night. The boy in the driver seat rolled down his car window and the woman slowly made her way to him. She was pretty, modestly dressed, and older. She had reminded him of his own mother.

"'Can I help you, ma'am?' the boy said to the woman. She smiled at him, a polite, nice smile. 'Why, yes. I am terribly sorry to jump in front of you like that. I am looking for my son. I wonder if you've seen him. He's around your age; he's a bit large for his frame. He said he was going to be out here with his friends and I came to take him home.'

"The boys looked at each other. 'What is his name?' said the one in the passenger seat. The woman smiled, 'His name is Jonathan.'

"Worried that they were about to be caught and strongly reprimanded, they explained the situation to the woman. But she had merely smiled and nodded. 'I understand' she said, her deep southern drawl sympathetic and the boys couldn't help but wonder how a boy like Jonathan came from a woman like her. 'My Jonathan is sometimes very difficult to handle. I think it was because my husband and I were so happy to have him after all those years of trying, that we had unintentionally spoiled the boy." She smiled, "But I am mighty glad that he has friend friends who are close enough to spend time with him even if' and here she paused, which seemed to the boys like a small reprimand, 'it included alcohol.'

"The boys did their best to assure her that they were indeed friends and then politely pointed her to the path that would lead her to her son. They asked her whether she wanted them to show her the way and that they'd drive them back to her house. But the lady had politely declined, saying that the path was easy to follow and that she had parked only a little ways away.

"After another minute of assuring the woman that helping her wouldn't be a problem to which the woman again politely declined, the boy put his truck in drive and headed toward the road, away from the woods. As soon as they were out of the woman's sight, they turned to each other and grinned. Even though their prank had not reached fruition, they were relieved that they hadn't gotten into any trouble.

"But when they had been driving about 3 minutes, the boy in the passenger's seat cell phone vibrated. The boy shrugged and opened his phone to look at the collar ID; it was a number he didn't recognize. He looked at his friend who looked back in confusion. 'Answer it,' his friend said, for some reason unexplainably uncomfortable. The boy pressed the 'Accept' button and put the phone to his ear, mumbling a soft 'hello?' when a thunderous female voice yelled back at him:

"'WHERE IS MY SON? Ted Maron, you better tell me where my boy is before I have your father take you to your behind. Who said you could take out my precious Jonathan into the woods at the middle of the night? I don't care what you and your hooligan friends choose to do on your own time but how dare you force my baby boy to join you.'

"Ted had pulled the phone away from his face and stared at it, his eyes wide and face pale. 'M-Mrs. Binkley?'

"'Of course, you idiotic child!' she yelled back. 'Now tell me where my son is!'

"Ted's eyes turned his friend's, who own face had gotten deathly pale. They both turned back and looked at the woods where they had left Jonathan Binkley with a strange woman who had claimed she was his mother. But… his mother was on the other side of Ted's phone now.

"As fast as they could, the boys turned the car around and gunned it back toward the woods. They rushed out of their car as soon as they reached the spot and started running. Their hearts were beating wildly and their throat burned as they ran faster than their legs have ever taken them until finally, they reached the spot where they had last saw Jonathan Blinkley…"

Gerald paused and took a look around at the people who circled the camp fire. Harold was gently rocking back and forth as he clutched at the front of his shirt. Sid and Stinky were clutching each other with frightened expressions. Phoebe was staring up at him with eyes full of admiration and terror in equal measure. Lila had gotten closer to Arnold and everyone else had moved an inch forward in their seats.

"But… he was nowhere to be found. All they saw was empty beer cans that littered the spot the boy had occupied not too long ago. Terrified, they searched frantically but saw no one. Then… they heard it. A soft sound, almost like a… dragging sound. It sounded a bit away but not too far, coming in a direction that was blocked from their view by a giant tree. The boys quietly made their way to it and peered around.

"In a distance, they spotted the woman who had jumped in front of their truck but she no longer completely looked like the same woman. She wore the same clothes as before but her hair was down and waved erratically about her face and she was pulling a motionless Jonathan Binkley by his arms toward the heart of the forest. For a minute they were frozen in place as they watched her slowly drag the boy, the twigs and dried leaves beneath him making an awful, eerie, broken sound in the quiet night. Then _suddenly_ the woman dropped him and the boys watched, eyes wide in horror, as she slowly reached out and grabbed the still boy by the hair and resumed her slow dragging…."

Only the sound of the crackling fire met the silence as Gerald let his words hang above their heads. Then gradually, he began to speak again.

"The boys stood in fear until Ted Maron felt a vibration in his pants pocket, reminding them of why they were there. Ted looked at his friend and they both reached down and picked up several pebbles and with shaking fingers, began throwing them in the direction of the woman and what they hoped was their merely unconscious friend.

"The woman stopped moving but her hand did not release Jonathan Binkley's hair instead, she slowly turned, her head still down, her dark hair throwing her face into the shadows. Then slowly… ever so slowly, the woman lifted her head…. And even from their distance, the boys could see that her eyes were disproportionate, too abnormally large for her face and… the eyes were completely black. And yet these visions did not come close to the terror the boys felt at the realization that the woman who quietly stared back at them, eyes wide and unblinking, had… no eyelids…."

Gerald paused and shot a glance to Harold who was now whimpering and holding Rhonda tightly by the arm.

"The lady finally dropped Jonathan and, to the boys' horror, carefully dropped to the ground on her hands and knees and slowly started crawling her way toward them. But then! Suddenly there were voices in the distance behind them. The boys turned to see lights and footsteps coming quickly towards them, several voices calling out their names.

"They quickly turned back, not wanting to let the woman out of their sight but when their eyes returned to where she stood only a second ago, she was nowhere to be found… leaving only the still and now bloodied form of Jonathan Binkley on the forest floor…."

A pregnant silence met the end of Gerald's story.

"Heck, Gerald, I reckon that was the scariest story I had ever heard in my life," said Stinky, who was still holding onto Sid.

Sid pushed himself away. "Yeah, Gerald, that's got to be your best scary story yet!"

"Gerald," said Phoebe with a soft smile, placing her hand on his arm. "It seems you have again successfully proven your aptitude in telling an engaging and… rather chilling story that also provides a moral narrative."

Others continued to join in with their compliments.

And in the middle of the commotion, Helga heard Lila asking "Harold, are you ever so alright?" Helga turned to see Harold, whose eyes were wide and whose body was shaking as he clutched at his arms.

Helga rolled her eyes. What children, scared of a little horror story. Then she noticed a warmth radiating from the side of her body. She quickly turned her gaze away from her cowering friend and looked to her right. She was sitting up against Oak, her side pressed tightly against his. She felt another warmth on the opposite shoulder. She turned and saw a hand gripping her shoulder gently… his hand.

She turned back to face him and glared. "What do you think you're doing, bucko?"

Oak removed his arm and shot her an apologetic grin. "You seemed scared," he simply said with a shrug.

Helga scoffed…. "Me? Scared? Listen _buddy_ , Helga G. Pataki ain't afraid of anything… got it?"

Oak continued to grin and Helga had to suppress an urge to rip it off his face for him. "You're the one who came to me," he said and pointed to the log.

Helga looked down, Oak was sitting exactly where he had been when the story had started but Helga was a least 6 inches away from her own spot. She felt heat rise to her cheeks and scooted away from him, back to where she had originally sat. She looked up and straight ahead, knowing full well that the idiot was grinning from ear to ear. She clenched her hands tightly into fists.

Across from where Helga sat, Arnold was watching the exchange. Having just a minute ago complimented Gerald on his story telling with the rest of their friends, he had looked up to see Helga in Oak's embrace. He had frowned. _When had they gotten so close?_

He watched as Helga turned to Oak and said something. Oak's arm fell away from her shoulder and Arnold felt a kind of... satisfaction? He shook his head and felt a soft touch on his shoulder. He turned to see Lila, who was giving him an odd look.

"Everything okay, Arnold?"

He nodded. "Yeah, Lila. I'm fine."

"That sure was a scary story, wasn't it?" she said, slightly turning on her seat to look behind them at the darkened beach.

Arnold smiled. "There's nothing to worry about, Lila. It was just a story."

"I suppose you're right," she said and she began playing with her single braided hair that hung off her left shoulder.

Arnold watched her, idly thinking of how beautiful she looked in the firelight. He had forgotten how pretty she was. Like with Helga, Arnold had also had a kind of falling out with Lila though to a much lesser extent. They had at least had one class together nearly every year since the beginning of high school in which they did occasionally talk. They were always polite and inquired about the other's life but they both had their own respective group of friends. And it could have also been simply because, after the few rejections, Arnold had moved on. He had dated a pretty redhead named Joplin for a few months in his freshman year, had met an exchange student named Juliana the year after. They had dated Arnold's whole sophomore year before she had moved back to Brazil. Then in junior year, Arnold had gone on a couple of scattered dates here and there but no girl had really caught his eye. But then he hadn't really been looking so it hadn't really mattered to him. It was then, during his final semester of the previous year, that he and Lila had shared chemistry class together. It just happened to be that they were seated together and assigned as partners on several large projects. They had gotten to talking more than they had in the past years combined and Arnold was reminded of how well they got along. It was effortless. So easy that he couldn't help but think that… maybe they did belong together.

And now he looked at her with the firelight dancing on the red of her hair, which made him think of enchantments and fairies.

"Alright bucko!" came a loud hiss across from where he sat, interrupting his thoughts. Arnold turned to see a standing Helga face Oak with an annoyed expression on her face. "I get you saved me and all and I'm— grrr— grateful but if you think that this means I'm going to just sit here and let you annoy the living –"

"Helga," Oak cut her off, a half smirk on his face "has anyone ever told you how cute you are when you're angry?"

And Arnold watched as Helga's jaw dropped, her eyes widened, and a blush began to creep onto her cheeks. She stammered and then glared when the words would not leave her mouth. Then without a word, she turned and walked toward the house, passing Arnold as she did so.

Arnold watched her retreating back, feeling tense. He didn't know why but the incident that had just transpired before him had sat uneasily in his stomach and for some inexplicable reason, he felt like something important had just occurred.

…

"Hey Helga," said a voice behind her, causing Helga to jump nearly a foot in the air.

She turned around, her hand to her chest and let out a breath when she saw Arnold, grinning at her. "Criminy, football head! Could you give a little warning when you do that?" she hissed, acutely aware that it was late and that she was outside. He was wearing a casual t-shirt and what looked like pajama pants, his attire was better suited for bed than the cold silent dark of where they stood. "What are you doing here?" she asked him.

"I just came back from the pool bathroom," he said. "What are you doing out here?"

Helga shrugged, "same as you Arnoldo. Princess was taking a bath and some bozos were occupying the other bathrooms and I need to go, so here I am."

Arnold peered to the left and then the right; there was only darkness in both directions. The pool bathroom was only a short walk away from the beach house but it was dark and she was alone. "I'll go with you."

Helga cocked her brow. "Thanks but no thanks, Arnoldo. I can handle myself."

Arnold smiled, "I know but just humor me, okay?"

Helga gave him a long look. Why was he always so nice? She shrugged. "Alright football head, since you insist."

They made their way to the pool area, the only source of light emitting from the stars above and the few florescent lights at the bottom of the pool.

"Sheesh," said Helga, suddenly rubbing her arms.

"What's wrong?" asked Arnold, concerned.

Helga shook her head, "I don't know. I just suddenly felt a chill."

Arnold looked at her face and then grinned. "Don't tell me that you're scared, Helga," he teased. "Did perhaps Gerald's story actually frighten you?"

Helga dropped her arms and gave him a face. "Shut up, _Arnoldo_. It'll take a lot more than a little story to scare me." She turned her back to him and headed into the girl's bathroom, leaving Arnold outside to wait for her.

When she finished her business and washed her hands, another chill ran through her frame. It was a warm night. _What the heck_? Helga looked up; the pool bathroom didn't have any mirrors. Suddenly, she felt something softly brush her back. Her eyes widened. She quickly turned off the water and ran out of the bathroom, running straight into Arnold as she did so.

"Oof!" she grunted as her face made contact with his chest.

"Helga," he sai,d concerned as he gently grabbed her arms. She looked up at him.

"T-There's something in there," she said, her eyes darting from his face back to the bathroom entrance.

Arnold also turned to look at where she pointed and cocked his head to the side, listening but he heard nothing. "Are you sure you're not just hearing things, Helga?" he asked. "Gerald's story has that kind of effect on people."

Helga grunted. "Do I _look_ like the type of person to be hearing things because of a story? And plus I didn't _hear_ it, I _felt_ it." She shivered, still staring at the entrance.

Arnold looked down at her; she was still in his arms. Whatever was in there had scared her enough that either she hadn't noticed she was still being held or she was actually seeking comfort, which he realized, when coming from Helga, was both weird and kind of nice.

He frowned, turning his attention back to the bathroom. "Stay here," he said to her, releasing her and started toward entryway.

"Football head," Helga hissed as he stepped pass the threshold. She swore under her breath but quickly followed him in.

Arnold had just walked into the bathroom when he felt someone step up beside him. He hadn't turned to look at the newcomer but instinctively knew it was Helga. From the corner of his eye he could see her nervously dart her head from side to side. He gently placed his hand on the small of her back and felt her calm, which brought him again that unexpected sense of satisfaction.

The bathroom was eerily quiet and dark. There were no lights and all 4 of the stall doors were closed. Arnold and Helga quietly made their way farther into the room. They came upon the first stall and Arnold slowly pushed in the door and breathed a sigh of relief when only the toilet stared back at them. He did the same for the second and third to no result, all the while, holding onto Helga. But when they came upon the final stall however, they began to hear a soft scratching, like something was scrapping against the metal box that held the toilet paper.

He looked at Helga, whose eyes had widened. He brought a finger to his lips to signal silence and removed his hand from her back only to grasp her hand in his and held himself in front of the door, ready to run if need be. Slowly and with one last glance at Helga, he moved his hand forward and when his fingers touched the stall door, he quickly pushed it open and came to face a dark form, crouched on the toilet seat and what looked like long silver fingers scratching against the metal box next to it.

Arnold felt Helga's hand twitch in his and he could feel her muscles tense as his own head tried to desperately understand what they were seeing.

The scratching stopped and the form turned to look at them and just as Arnold's body was preparing to run, having twisted and partially faced the door that would lead them outside, he saw… a bowl cut? And… red glasses?

Arnold immediately knew when Helga too had recognized the figure before them for he felt her whole body tense up in what he could only assume was fury.

"Currrrrleeeyy," she ground out through clenched teeth.

Arnold watched as Curly jumped up, now standing tall on the toilet and laughed, "Ah hahahaha!" as Helga let go of Arnold's hand and lunged forward, missing him as he dodged, rushing pass her, his black cape flowing behind him and holding up what Arnold could now see was a hand rake.

"Get back here, you twisted little freak!" Helga yelled as she ran after him.

Arnold followed behind her, intending to get to Helga before she did any harm to their old classmate but when he got out of the bathroom, he saw her standing at the edge of the pool, looking around.

"Urg!" she nearly yelled, "I lost that little twisted soul!"

Arnold walked up to her, grinning at her words and then he started to laugh as the tension he had felt only moments ago flooded out of his body.

Helga looked at him. "What are you laughing at, football head?" but he noticed that she sported a half smile.

"Why don't you ever get angry?" she asked after a moment, "I mean that psycho nearly scared the wits out of us."

Arnold's laughter died down to a smile. "He's not so bad, Helga. He's just a little… complicated."

"Not so bad?" She rolled her eyes. "Are you blind, Arnoldo? I mean the kid is 17 and he's wearing a cape and using a rake for a hand, for god's sake. He's like a character straight out of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'."

Arnold grinned and shook his head. Realizing just how late it probably was, he looked toward the house and saw that only a few rooms remained lit. "We should go back," he said and without thinking, he grabbed Helga's hand and started making his way back to the house.

Behind him, a confused and slightly flustered Helga stared at their entwined finger, her heart suddenly beating erratically. And despite her best efforts not to, she felt hope swell in her soul.


	8. A New Year, a Pink Bow, and a Confession

**A New Year, A Pink Bow, and a Confession?**

Helga looked at herself in the mirror. Today was the first day of school. Normally she would have put on a pair of jeans and any clean t-shirt she could find except that today was the first day of senior year and it also happened to be the first day that Helga would see Arnold since Rhonda's beach outing nearly five days ago. It wasn't just that the football head had kind of disappeared on her; Helga too had been extremely busy. Phoebe had dragged her to the library nearly every day to finish their summer assignments and she had also had an unexpected visit from her parents. Of course, they had been on their way to a conference in the city but still, it was surprisingly nice that they had stopped by.

Bob had still been in the general habit of calling her Olga or girl but every so often he'd remember to call her Helga and well, that was improvement for Big Bob Pataki. Her mother too also seemed more… energetic though not by much. She had been at the very least lucid and articulate as she inquired about Helga's new life. And despite the many awkward silences that was scattered throughout during dinner, Helga had had to admit that it was kind of nice having seen them.

Of course, that didn't mean that she wasn't also relieved when they left, having spent nearly three hours in Hillwood. They had said their goodbyes just the previous day and Helga had to again promise her parents that she'd call regularly, though she successfully bargained down the frequency to twice every week as opposed to every night.

Helga looked at herself in the mirror and frowned. The skirt was a little too… unlike her, a couple of inches too short and had a little too much glamour. She shrugged; she didn't want to go too far out of her comfort zone. The top was nice at least, just a simple pastel green sweater with a stylized whale print right on the center.

Helga took off the skirt and chucked it behind her and pulled out a pair of fitted, pale pink jeans Phoebe had gotten her for her birthday. With white canvas shoes, the outfit would make her look a little softer, which, Helga realized, could only be an improvement when it came to her since she doubted her personality would soften much more. At least she could give the appearance of being a little bit more feminine… ish.

She ran a brush through her hair. It was getting a bit long, running a couple inches past her shoulders, just above mid-back. It looked fine, she thought. She liked it down but…. Helga scratched her head and walked over to her desk. Opening the top drawer, she moved aside some pens and other school related apparatuses until she came across a folded pink ribbon.

She frowned; she hadn't used this ribbon since the first semester of freshman year. It had been an annoying and unfortunately, painful reminder. She rubbed her thumb over the material. It felt as it always had. Helga hesitated. Wearing it would be symbolic more than anything, signaling an acquiescence on her part that she hadn't completely given up.

She sighed but then squared her shoulders and walked back to her mirror, the silk dangling from her fingers. She pulled her hair over her right shoulder and before she could allow herself time to back out, she maneuvered the ribbon until it became a familiar bow. But instead of being on top of her head like it had been in her earlier years, it hung in the middle, as a way of keeping her hair together, rather than just being a symbol of her love like it had once been.

Helga looked over herself once more. She looked fine, good even.

She picked up her backpack and headed out the door.

Just when Helga was about to step onto the sidewalk, her foot on the final step of the stoop, a familiar voice called out to her from behind. "Hey Helga, wait up!"

Helga turned to see the familiar oblong head nearly running toward her, with a piece of toast in his mouth and another toast held between a napkin in his hand, and a backpack slung over his shoulder. She watched as he called out behind him with muffled words "Bye grandma, grandpa! I'm heading to school."

Helga stood on the side walk, patiently waiting until he reached her side.

He grinned at her and handed her the toast that had been in his hand as he removed the one that was in his mouth with the other. She blinked.

"Grandma said you didn't eat anything."

Helga reached out and took the unexpected offering. "Oh, uh, thanks football head."

He smiled at her again as he looked at her appearance. "You look really nice, Helga." Then suddenly he reached out and touched the bow in her hair. "Wow, is this the same bow you wore when we were kids?"

Helga felt an awful blush stain her cheeks but she merely shrugged and said, "Yup, football head. I see you're as sharp as ever."

He grinned again at that and Helga quietly wished that he would stop smiling at her.

They started walking, taking bites of their respective toasts.

"So what's your schedule look like this year?" Helga asked, turning her head to look at him.

Arnold had just finished his toast and had wiped the crumbs off with the back of his hand. He fished into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, which he opened and read, "I've got Calc, Psychology, Physics, Spanish, lunch, Economics, study period, and English Lit." He turned to her, "What about you? Any chance we have any classes together?"

Helga too pulled out a piece of paper, some of those classes did sound familiar but she wasn't sure they were during the same period as his. She had never been so lucky before so she didn't hope for much. "Art History, Japanese with Phoebe, study period, Calc, lunch, Chemistry, Creative Writing, and uh, English Lit."

"Wow, Helga," He was grinning again. "After all this time, we actually share 2 periods together and on our final year of high school."

 _Yeah_ , Helga thought to herself, _how the hell did that happen?_ "Eh, I guess I'll be seeing you a lot this year then football head."

He cocked his head slightly to look at her. "Had you not planned to if we didn't have the same classes?"

Helga raised a brow. Arnold was teasing her. When had he gotten so smooth or perhaps, he was just getting too comfortable with her. "You bet, Arnoldo, it's enough that I have to see your wide head often outside of school, living in the same house and all. Plus just because we're friends now doesn't mean I want to see you all the time."

"It does to me." A crooked smile.

She laughed, "Planning to use that line with the ladies this year?"

Arnold laughed and suddenly, they were right outside of Hillwood High. It seemed like no time had passed at all.

They spotted Phoebe and Gerald waiting for them just below the steps of the building. Arnold and Gerald greeted each other with their familiar handshake.

"Hey Pheebs."

Phoebe smiled at her. "Why Hello Helga. Did you and Arnold arrive to school together?"

"Yup, football head caught me right as I was leaving."

"Hey Helga," said Gerald nodding to her as he put his arm around Phoebe and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Hey babe, Arnold and I are going to head to the gym to talk to Coach Morrison. I'll see you at lunch?"

Phoebe nodded and they watched as the boys walked ahead and made their way through the double doors.

The girls, in turn, headed toward their lockers.

"So Pheebs," said Helga. "Ready for the new year?"

"Why, yes, Helga. I am excited for all the new classes I have scheduled to take. I do hope though that I haven't over done it."

Helga rolled her eyes. "You're the only one I know that would forgo a free period like study hall to take Linear Algebra. It's our senior year, you should relax a little."

"Oh no, Helga, studies have shown that senior year is in fact quite crucial if one is to be well prepared for more grueling courses during college. Even the way we are forced to think will be different then."

"Yeah yeah," said Helga as they got to Phoebe's locker. Helga looked at the clock that hung above their heads; it was almost time for their first class to start. "Alright, Pheebs, I'll see you later. Jones will chew me out if I'm late."

Phoebe smiled, "Okay, Helga. Enjoy your first day of school!"

…

Arnold looked around the cafeteria, hoping to see a familiar face, specifically one that was accompanied by long yellow hair. He knew that Phoebe and Gerald had somehow arranged to have the same lunch period as they but today Gerald had gone to the basketball court to judge the first day of new player tryouts. And Phoebe, he knew from Gerald, was with the math club for a beginning of the year meeting. That left Helga as the only other person he knew who shared the same lunch period with him.

Finally he spotted her on a table toward the wall. Her lunch tray lay in front of her and a few books were open beside it. Arnold paused for a second; he had no idea that Helga Pataki was so serious about her studies. He had always known she was smart but he supposed she just never openly displayed it. He smiled and made his way over to her.

"Hey Helga," he said as he stood in front of her.

"Hey," she responded without looking up and he could tell that she was too preoccupied to have noticed him. He sat down and gazed at her as he began to eat.

She was running a pen through some passage, which was under an image of what looked like an Egyptian statue.

"What are you studying?" he asked as he leaned over to get a better look at the picture, his face only inches away from her.

"Huh?" Finally, she looked up and Arnold watched with amusement as her eyes widened slightly and her pink lips parted.

"A-Arnold?" She jerked her head back to force a few more inches of space between them. She breathed out then slammed her book shut. It was an Art history book. "Geezus football head, I told you to stop doing that."

"Sorry, Helga" but he smiled. "I did say hi but you were too focused to notice."

Helga grumbled in response and Arnold realized that she did that a lot around him. "What was that?" he said, his smile never having left his face.

Helga rolled her eyes. "I said, I thought I was going to be alone for lunch so I thought I might as well get crackin' on my homework."

"You forgot we shared the same lunch period?"

"No, Arnoldo, I just assumed like Phoebe and Tall Hair boy, you had some extra curriculars you had to see to." She picked up her fork and Arnold watched as she shoved some mash potatoes in her mouth.

Arnold shrugged. "Not this year. I kind of want some free time for my senior year, you know, before college."

Helga nodded as her response, saying nothing, but Arnold had a feeling that she understood and shared his reasoning.

"How were your classes, Helga?" he asked her as he scarfed down a piece of chicken.

"Oh you know, the same really. Got Smith and if you've ever taken him before then you know how boring he is." Helga did an impression of dull expression and a droll voice going over some math problem. Arnold laughed.

"Do you have classes with any one I know?" he asked.

Helga nodded. "Got Rhonda and Nadine in Art History and Sid and treestub for Creative Writing."

Arnold swallowed the final bite of his lunch and looked up. "Treestub?"

Helga made an annoyed face. "You know, Oak, that guy from Rhonda's party."

"Oh, right, the guy who saved you." _She had already given him a nickname?_ Arnold looked at his empty tray idly and suddenly a tapioca pudding was plopped in front of him. Surprised, he looked up but Helga's gaze was down as she attacked her chicken with a fork.

He smiled at her. "Thanks, Helga" to which she merely responded with a grunt.

"So football head, what about you— classes with anyone I know?"

"Mmm," Arnold swallowed a spoonful of tapioca pudding. "Eugene, Sid, and Stinky for Calc uh and Gerald and Lila for Spanish."

"Huh."

Arnold and Helga continued to talk, laughing at each other's jokes until the end of the lunch, after which they stood up and went their separate ways.

As Arnold walked over to his next class however, his mind wandered. He noticed that time had just flown by while he was with Helga and he was struck again by the realization of how glad he was that she was back in his life.

…

"Hey Helga!" Arnold called out as soon as he spotted a familiar yellow hair and a pink bow, walking out of the school's open front doors. The first day of school had ended and he had originally planned to spend the afternoon with either Gerald or Lila but they both been busy with their respective club schedules and since Arnold had decided his senior year would be free of too many extracurricular activities, he found himself without any plans.

Helga stopped walking and turned to face him. "What's up, football head?"

Once he caught up to her, they started walking. "Can I walk you home?"

Helga cocked a brow, "In case you've forgotten we live at the same place."

He grinned. "Yeah, I know but I want to walk back with you."

She shrugged, "Eh, if it floats your boat. You're welcome to do whatever you want, Arnoldo. However, what makes you think I was even going back to the boarding house?"

Arnold felt his face fall. He had just assumed. Helga had been almost a constant in his life during the summer, always there when he went to her room, or always picked up the phone when he wanted to hang out. He had never even considered that she had a life outside of their friendship. He frowned, realizing just how stupid that thought was.

"Well, as it happens," Helga continued before he could respond. "I'm heading over to Slausen's for an ice cream cone and then I was going to head home." She shot him a look. "But you're welcome to join me there too."

Oddly relieved, Arnold nodded as they made their way to Slausen's.

Once there, he turned to her and asked, "What kind of ice cream do you want, Helga? I'll buy."

"No thanks, Arnoldo. I can buy my own ice cream. Save your money for you future girlfriend."

But he insisted and in the end, Helga had no choice but to comply. He purchased a double fudge double scoop ice cream for Helga and a mint chocolate chip double scoop for himself and made his way back to the table where Helga sat, looking out the window.

She murmured a thanks when he handed over her ice cream. Her face looked strangely pensive.

"Is everything okay?" he asked as he found his gaze scanning over her face.

"Yeah, nothing for you to worry about, football head."

But Arnold knew something was bothering her and he had a strange suspicion that she didn't want to talk to him about it. He frowned. He wanted Helga to be able to talk to him about anything. He wanted her to trust him as much as he trusted her. Though that last part itself was a new revelation.

"Hey football head, let me ask you something," came Helga's voice, pulling him out of his thoughts. "What kind of girls do guys like?" She was both blushing and grimacing. _Odd_.

Arnold blinked. He had honestly never in a million years expected Helga G. Pataki to ask _him_ as question like that. "Oh uh, I don't know. I think all guys have their own preferences."

He watched as she gave him an annoyed look. "Okay, fine then what kind of girls do _you_ like?"

Arnold scratched his head and looked down at his cone, normally he would have already finished it but his thoughts and now her question got in the way. "Well," he said slowly and started to think about all the girls he had dated in the past and of course, Lila, "kind, funny, and uh… pretty."

Helga rolled her eyes. "Gee, football head, I could have never guessed."

"Okay, fine, then what kind of guys do you like then?"

"Well for one thing, my bar is a lot higher than yours, that is for sure."

"Then tell me," he shot back, slightly irritated.

He watched as she looked at him then turned her head back to the window. Her expression looked thoughtful. "Well for one, he needs to have a big heart, and I mean so large that it borders on idealistic and foolish." Arnold tried to think of anyone he knew that was like that. "He needs to always see the bright side of things and always the good in everyone no matter how awful the person is, even to him." Arnold took a bite of his cone, what kind of guy was that blind, he wondered. "He needs to be willing to help everyone and anyone even if it means going out of his way and finally, he needs to be a little dense."

Arnold looked at her, what a strange guy she had just named. She was so detailed in the person's characteristics that he could almost swear that she had already had a guy in mind. But for the life of him, he could not figure out who.

Helga gave him a hard look but when he didn't respond, she sighed and said, "Well… maybe a little less dense."

A double fudge chocolate ice cream cone was placed in front of his face. The cone and a scoop remained. Arnold looked up, having just finished his own ice cream.

"Here football head, you can finish mine." Arnold took the cone from her out stretched fingers as Helga stood from the table, picked up her bag, and made her way to the door. "I've got to get home, lots of homework to do."

Arnold hurried to catch up with her, his mind muddled with confusion. He never understood Helga and had admitted as such when they were kids. Now, nearly adults, he was again reminded of how much of a puzzle she was to him. Something had happened between them, that much he was sure of, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what.

…

With Gerald, Phoebe, and Lila being busy with their respective afterschool activities, Arnold had found himself spending a lot of time with Helga.

Every school day for the first full month of school, Arnold and Helga had walked to school together and walked back home together. And every school day between the hours of 3 and 6, they sat either in the boarding house dining room, Helga's room, or Arnold's room doing their homework. Some days, before heading home, they'd stop by Slausen's for ice cream or Mikey's for burgers. Then they would have dinner together with the boarders and Helga and Arnold would either hang around watching movies or playing games.

On one of these days, Arnold and Helga were in Arnold's room, working on their respective homework. Arnold was lounging on the couch, having just finished his physics worksheet. Helga sat on the floor beneath him, with her face in a book, which was balanced on top of her bent knees. Arnold lazily watched as her pen danced across the lined pages, leaving bright streaks of red in its wake. She was so quiet that he could nearly imagine her face scrunched up in concentration.

A twirl of yellow hair suddenly came into his view and Arnold was startled to find that he had been idly playing with her hair, which she had freed earlier that afternoon from the pink bow. He had been twirling a strand around his finger, feeling the silky waves.

He quickly pulled his hand away but Helga must have felt the slight movement for she suddenly looked up and turned her head. A bright blue eye gazed up at him, a delicate brow arched in question. Arnold let out a sigh, she looked quite pretty.

"What's with that weird look, football head?"

Arnold vigorously shook his head. "Uh sorry, Helga."

She smirked, "Day dreaming again?"

"Y-yeah."

"Of course. You wouldn't be a football head if you weren't." Helga shut her textbook and stood. "Welp," she said, "I should head back to my room."

Arnold glanced at his clock. It was only 7:30. They had just finished dinner at 7 and had come back up to Arnold's room to finish what was left of their homework. "It's still early, Helga."

Helga yawned. "Yeah, but I'm already kind of tired."

"You can take a nap here."

Helga raised a brow. "Why would I do that, football head, when my room is right downstairs?"

Arnold blushed. He didn't know what was wrong with him but lately he had been rather attached to Helga's company. Perhaps it had been because of Lila's constant busy schedule that prevented her from seeing him outside of the weekends and he had felt a need for some kind of companionship. But then again, he could have easily just hung out with any of his other friends. Or perhaps it was because their friendship was still so new that it was, in a way, exciting. Or perhaps it was simply because he liked spending time with her because she was fun and they got along great.

But then again, she was right. Her bedroom was just downstairs and he could easily just see her again the next day.

"Geez, I thought you'd be sick of me by now, football head."

Arnold looked up to see Helga smirking slightly. He frowned. "I'd never be sick of you, Helga."

She scoffed. "Please, you were when we were children—"

He stopped her. "No, I mean yeah, I was tired of your constant bullying but I was never sick of you. There were some times when I actually liked you, even then."

She cocked a brow. "What kind of neurotic weirdo likes their tormentor?" She grinned. "Tell me the truth, Arnoldo, you're the type who'd get Stockholm syndrome, wouldn't you?"

Arnold laughed. "Come on, Helga. It wasn't that bad. To be honest sometimes you surprised me then. It's why I always thought there was more to you."

Helga gave him a long look and then Arnold watched as she turned her head away to look at some odd spot on the wall next to his bookcase. For a long moment, there was just quiet between them until suddenly, Helga turned back with what looked like resolve in her eyes. She took a deep breath and said, "A-Arnold, I was thinking…. Well, f-football head, since we spend so much time together now anyways, why don't we just try dating?"

Silence.

Arnold's eyes widened as he tried to comprehend what Helga was asking him. He had never once even considered that Helga would ever propose such an idea to him.

"Helga, I— I'm with Lila," he said as he felt his gut roll with discomfort. He thought she knew. He was sure that everyone knew but now he realized how stupid that sounded. Why would Helga be privy to the inner ongoings of his personal life? They were friends, yes. They lived in the same house, yes. But –

True he and Lila were just dating, it was nothing serious yet, but Arnold had gone into it with the mentality that he would give it his all. He liked Lila, quite a bit. He hadn't been exaggerating to Gerald when he said that there might be something profound between the two of them and he knew that he had to at least try after all these years and after she had finally said 'yes'.

"Hey," suddenly came Helga's voice, barging through his thoughts, "Don't worry about it football head." She shrugged, casually, "I thought I'd give it a try since we were getting close and all and well, you're not too bad to look at. Don't hurt yourself." She laughed, "There's no _feelings_ involved." Arnold frowned.

She shrugged again, looking at him straight in the eye with a careless smile. She was so _relaxed_. He breathed an inner sigh of relief, thanking god that this didn't mean the end of the relationship between them but at the same time, he felt an odd sort of rejection. But that wasn't right, as much as he hated it, he was the one rejecting her, right? But then why did it feel like _she_ was the one throwing _him_ away?

Helga suddenly moved, brushing off her pants. Her eyes momentarily avoiding Arnold's but then she scratched her head and made a face. "Welp, I guess I might as well give treestub a chance then."

"What?" The word came tumbling out of Arnold's lips, unbidden.

"Yeah that poor sap asked me out before we left princess's beach house. I was thinking about saying yes but sometimes he gets on my nerves." She shrugged again, her eyes back to his. "I thought maybe you'd save me, Arnoldo," she said with what Arnold could only describe as an ironic smile.

"Eh, but I guess he's not that bad," she continued. "He's good to look at." Then she went back to gazing at that invisible spot on his wall.

Arnold felt like a fish out of water, his mouth opening and closing but no words came out. He needed to say something…. "Helga, I—"

"Oh crap," said Helga, "sorry, football head. I completely forgot I was meeting Phoebe for a girls' night at her place. You know how that goes and with her being busy, we didn't have much time to see each other." She picked up her books from the floor and shot him another smile. _Why was she smiling so much?_ "I'll see you around, Arnoldo." And with a tiny, two fingered salute, she left his room.


	9. Love's Slow in Coming

**Love's Slow in Coming**

 **...**

 **Writer's Notes** : Hey guys, sorry it's been a while since I wrote one of these little notes.

Just wanted to let you know I have been reading the comments and do appreciate them! Just a few things- this is a HelgaxArnold story. It's a bit slow but don't worry, we are getting there lol. Also this chapter is mostly just lots of little scenes.

Oh one more thing, sorry about inconsistencies in titles, I'm probably going to change them eventually, just haven't been able to come up with ones I have been satisfied with.

...

Helga stood in the middle of her room and stared blankly at her desk. She had lied about going to Phoebe's, she doubted even Arnold, as dense as he was, believed her.

She felt odd. Strange… as if she should be doing something, feeling something besides this weird void in her head. Shouldn't she be crying? Bawling? Shouldn't she be devastated? Weird. She had again confessed to Arnold, albeit in a very casual way, and was again shot down. She should have been in pain; she should have been clutching her heart, hunched over in agony or at the very least, making fist size holes in the walls of her bedroom. But instead, she nonchalantly dropped her book bag and lay on her bed, staring up at her ceiling, wondering when that overwhelming sadness and embarrassment would hit her.

But strangely, it never came….

…

The following morning, Helga went to school early. She was still feeling odd and she didn't want to see Arnold. She wasn't sure what she would do the next time they came face to face and she felt like she'd rather not risk it.

She was sitting, waiting for her Creative Writing class to begin when Oak had walked in and immediately went to her after having spotted her. On the first day of classes, he had chosen the seat right next to her and had spent pretty much every free moment trying to engage her in conversation.

To Helga, he was still annoying but over the weeks she had found him to be less so, considering that they did share a few interests, which prevented their conversations from steering to those small talks and vapid conversations she dreaded.

"Hey Helga," said Oak, pulling up the seat next to her and plopping down.

"Hey."

"You look a little tired, everything okay?"

Helga rolled her eyes. "Yup."

That didn't faze him, Oak was already used to her dismissive responses. "Hey, so I saw 'Deadly Attraction' last night and I gotta say I didn't think the main actress delivered a believable performance of an obsessive and passionate antagonist."

"Then you are blind, treestub."

He faced her, grinning. "How so?"

She knew what he was doing. Sighing, she turned her chair to face him. "Her eyes, the wide frantic look, even the way she moves in that seductive, measured way depicts a being obviously hiding a tightly controlled behavior. It's not even so much what the actress says that portrays the dangerous infatuation but how she goes about showing it."

"What about you, Helga?" he asked, "Have you ever been _that_ passionate about someone?"

Helga paused. She hadn't been _that_ crazy about Arnold, right? Her obsessiveness was the result of a harmless nine year old's crush, whose understanding of love stemmed only from her short life's sad experience. She hadn't been dangerous but she had been mean. She grunted, she hated thinking about that time even more so now after what had happened in Arnold's room not even a day ago. He didn't love her bat-crazy self then; he didn't love her matured and true self now.

A soft 'hey' pulled her out of her thoughts. Helga looked up, Oak was looking at her with an uncharacteristically soft look.

She rolled her eyes and turned to face the class as the teacher had just walked in.

When class ended, Oak caught up with her before she could reach the classroom door.

"Hey, Helga."

She didn't turn to look at him but continued walking. "What's up, treestub?" Oak followed.

"You free today after school? I thought we could go grab a bite to eat or something." He smiled, not a hint of nervousness in sight.

Helga paused and looked at him for a long moment. It wasn't a date. She still didn't really want to see Arnold. But then again, they were friends and as much as she was… whatever the heck she was about the scene the other day, she still wanted to be friends. Was she ready to give up what they had made? She frowned then turned to Oak and said, "I'll let you know" and walked out of the classroom.

…

When school ended, Helga made her way to the front of the school as she always did to meet Arnold for their walk home. But upon reaching the front doors of the school, she stopped.

Arnold was waiting at the bottom of the stairs as he always did but this time, someone stood next to him.

Before Helga knew what she was doing, she hid herself behind one of the closed doors that led into the school and slowly peered out to look at the couple.

"She should be here in a little bit. She must be running late," said Arnold, peering out at his classmates who were heading away from the school. He frowned.

Lila's smile was understanding. "It's alright, Arnold. I don't mind waiting."

A few minutes passed as Helga peered at the two, who were silently standing by the steps. "Let's just give her 5 more minutes," said Arnold after a while. "I don't want her to think I just left her."

Lila smiled at him. "Oh, Arnold, I'm sure Helga would never think that of you."

Helga rolled her eyes but remained hidden. She felt only slightly guilty as she watched Arnold continue to wait for a few more minutes before finally turning to Lila and saying in a slight defeated voice, "She must be busy or she must have already left. I guess we should go otherwise we'll miss the movie."

Lila smiled back at him, sympathetically. "I'm sure whatever kept Helga wasn't because she didn't want to see you, Arnold. She may have simply forgotten or she had other plans she forgot to tell you."

"Yeah," said Arnold, "That's what must have happened."

And Helga watched as Arnold and Lila walked away from the school. She let out a sigh of relief and slumped against the wall of the empty hall way. She had been standing there for about 15 minutes and most of the students were either in their respective club rooms, the gym or had gone home.

She knew why Arnold had been disappointed. She had left for school early without him and had skipped out on lunch, had arrived at their English Lit classroom right after the teacher, having taken a seat a couple desks away from him and had left the classroom first, with the intention of rushing out without having to be confronted by the football headed boy. And now she had hid behind the school door, only a few feet away from him, having made him worry, having made him wait only because some of the delayed embarrassment had now started to reach her.

She banged the back of her head against the wall behind her. Why was she such an idiot? Why did she keep doing this? They were doing well; they were actually friends… after all these years. That's all she had wanted when she had first moved into the boarding house. But her stupid feelings had to get in the way again. She had already accepted the fact once before that she and Arnold would never be so then why had she said what she had said? Why did she have to change the status quo? Why did that stupid football head just have to be such a good, caring, dense, amazing guy? If only he hadn't been then perhaps Helga could have finally let her love die and she wouldn't have ruined one of the most precious relationships she had in her life.

"Hey," a hand propped itself by her head and a pair of green eyes looked back at her. His brow's furrowed in concern. "You alright?"

Helga looked at Oak; she wanted to glare at him, to get angry, to push him aside. Him or anyone else but through force of will, she stopped herself. She wasn't a kid anymore; she could control at least some part of herself.

She took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm fine. Ready go to?"

He cocked a brow. "So then you are free?"

She shrugged, "turns out."

Oak nodded. "Alright, cool. I figured we grab something to eat and maybe go see a movie."

She shook her head, "No movie." She turned toward the door and started making her way outside but then stopped and turned to him. "Just so you know this is not a date."

Oak grinned and she felt her ire rise. "I know."

…

Arnold sighed. He was sitting in the movie theatres with Lila, watching some bad romantic comedy that Arnold couldn't even remember the name to. He gazed at Lila; she was laughing and looked as though she was having fun.

But Arnold found himself frustrated. It was bad enough that the movie didn't interest him in the least but thoughts of Helga and the previous day kept playing in his head over and over again and to top it all off, it seemed as though she was avoiding him.

He had woken early in the morning, hoping that he could talk to her on the way to school to make sure that everything was okay between them but when he had gone down for breakfast, his grandma had told him that Helga had already left. He had rushed out then, barely having touched his food, hoping to catch her but she had been nowhere in sight. Then he had sat at their lunch table with Gerald, Phoebe, and a few of their other friends and had waited patiently for her to show, hoping her now customary offering of tapioca pudding would be in her hand, which to Arnold somehow signified that all was right in their relationship. But again, Helga was nowhere to be seen. In the one class they shared together, she had come in late and had barely given him a nod of acknowledgement before sitting in a seat far away from him and left before he even had a chance to pick up his books.

Finally, he had waited for her outside of school in the hopes of at least seeing her. At first, he had planned to walk home with her as they always had but Lila had told him that the school's beginning of the year dance recital had finished and that she now had some free time after school for their dates. She had asked him to a movie and dinner and while Arnold was happy that he was now able to see Lila more regularly outside of the weekend, he was also a bit disappointed.

He inwardly groaned; he wouldn't be fine until he spoke with Helga.

…

Arnold made it back to the boarding house around 9 that night, having dropped off Lila after dinner at Mickey's. He had gone straight to his bedroom to drop off his things and immediately went back down the stairs and headed to the room in the back of the house.

Upon reaching Helga's door however, he heard voices. The only other person beside himself who has ever been in Helga's room was Phoebe and the voice that was not Helga's was distinctively male. He frowned.

Arnold took a deep breath and knocked resolutely. He didn't want to bother Helga if she was busy but he needed to talk to her.

He heard Helga's voice from behind the door say "Pause the movie" and heard her footsteps heading toward the door.

When the door opened, Helga looked at him in surprise. "A-Arnold."

For some inexplicable reason, Arnold was a little annoyed that she hadn't immediately known that it was he who had knocked. No one else went to her room at night… at least from what he knew.

Arnold peered over Helga's head, having yet to say a greeting and saw Oak lying on his side of the bed, her laptop on his lap. _What was happening?_

He looked back at Helga, who was looking at him with surprise in her eyes. His annoyance immediately left him. "Hey Helga," he said, his brows scrunching together. "Do you have a second to talk?"

"Uh— sure football head." Helga turned back to where Oak lay, watching them curiously. "Hey, don't you push that play button until I get back, got it?"

Oak shot them a grin and nodded, after having waved at Arnold.

Arnold smiled back but it felt a bit halfhearted.

When Helga's door closed behind her, Arnold gazed at her face. "I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay between us," he started.

Helga's face was impassive. Then she raised a brow, "Of course, football head. Why wouldn't it be?"

At that, Arnold felt his irritation rise back up. He had spent the whole day anxiously worried that their relationship had come to an end, that that short talk the other day had somehow caused an irreparable rift between him and the girl he now realized was his best friend (just got to note - besides Gerald). And yet here she was, having been lying in bed with another guy, watching a movie and responding to his question as if nothing was wrong, as if nothing happened, as if his torment had all been in his own head.

With such thoughts running through his head, Arnold's words were harsher than he had anticipated, having not been able to hide his annoyance. "Helga, you avoided me all day. You didn't wait for me to go school, you didn't come to lunch, you sat away from me in class, and you never showed up afterward. I waited for you."

Helga's eyes slightly widened and Arnold noted with satisfaction that Helga was actually stunned.

"Sheesh, football head," she said after a moment. "I'm sorry; I just… had stuff I needed to do."

And then it him, hit him straight in the face; Helga had basically told it to him yesterday. "You were with Oak," he said, not having bothered to phrase it with a question.

Helga eyes widened but she didn't respond and Arnold took that as confirmation.

 _That means that she hadn't been avoiding me_. "Does this mean that we're okay?" Arnold asked after another moment of, this time, awkward silence.

Helga laughed but it sounded odd to Arnold's ears. "Geez, Arnoldo, we were never not okay. I told you it wasn't a big deal." She punched him lightly on the arm and Arnold couldn't help but smile at the familiarity of the gesture. "Next time, just believe me when I say something."

Arnold grinned. "Helga, I'm really glad to hear that. I was… worried."

Helga gave him a small smile. Arnold thought it felt a little sad but then she rolled her eyes and he couldn't help but wonder if he had just imagined it. "You'll worry your gigantic head into space, Arnoldo. All is well and you and I are the same as we've always been."

Inwardly, Arnold frowned. That didn't feel right and yet, that was what he wanted, right?

"Anyways football head," said Helga, interrupting his thoughts. "I hope you don't mind but I gotta get back in there before treestub gobbles down all the popcorn. He eats almost as much as you."

Arnold smiled but it was forced. "Right. Uh okay then, I'll see you tomorrow? Walk you to school?"

Helga sighed. "Football head. Tomorrow is Saturday."

"Oh, right." He had plans with Lila like he did every Saturday but for some reason, he felt disappointed that he wouldn't see her. "Do you still want to meet up? Maybe grab breakfast?"

Helga shook her head, "No can do, Arnoldo. Treestub and I are headed to the aquarium early in the morning." She rolled her eyes. "He wants to see some new special fish exhibit or something."

Arnold felt a small but odd twist in his gut. "Yeah, okay, well I guess then I will see you hopefully another time."

Helga laughed. "We live in the same house, football head, I'm sure you'll see me around."

"Right." Arnold laughed awkwardly and then turned to leave. "Then, I'll just see you around, Helga."

…

Nearly two weeks had passed since Arnold had spoken to Helga in the hall way. Despite the fact that things seemed not to have changed when Helga and Arnold were together, the problem was that they rarely spent much time together at all.

In the mornings, they had walked to school like they usually did but the walk was short and the time just flew by. It felt to Arnold as if they had barely had time to say hi to each other before they arrived at the steps leading into the school. Their lunch table too was now filled with their friends. Rhonda, Herald, Eugene, Nadine and a few non-PS118 friends all shared the same lunch period with Arnold and Helga, along with Gerald and Phoebe, so they rarely had a chance to talk unless it was addressed to the whole group. A few notes or a few whispers were passed between them during English Lit but in general, talking had to be kept to a minimum since their teacher, Mr. Caswell, wasn't known to be fond of socializing during class.

And finally the walk home together, studies, and post dinner hang outs had completely stopped. With Lila being free for a while from afterschool dance practice, Arnold had found his evenings were filled with her and from the few times he had seen Helga walking home with Oak, he assumed that the situation was the same for Helga.

One Friday afternoon, they were at the arcade with Harold, Stinky, Nadine, and Sid. After dinner, Arnold had brought Lila to the back of the arcade to play some games. Lila preferred the simple ticket games, which were generally reserved for children. When she again rejected his suggestion to play something a bit more challenging, Arnold inwardly sighed.

At first, dating Lila had been great. They had spent lots of their time doing sweet, romantic things like going for walks or having a nice candle lit dinner at a local French restaurant. They had spent a lot of time talking about their youth, classes, their future plans, and Lila's dance practices and upcoming recitals. At first, dating her had been exciting. She was one of the prettiest girls in school and the nicest and Arnold had liked her for a long time but after a few weeks, it occurred to Arnold that all they were doing were things she wanted to do or things she thought couples should be doing, which was good and all for romantic dates but things were becoming a bit… dull for Arnold.

At least with Helga…

"Hey Lila, how about this one? I know you don't like shooting games but it's from the Cretaceous Park movie. No humans get hurt that is, if we save them all," he said, leading her to the familiar game.

"Oh, I don't know, Arnold. I've never seen Cretaceous Park, it seemed ever so violent and well the game uses guns."

"We were just playing the water pistols."

"Yes, but that's different, Arnold we weren't shooting at any living things." She smiled at him. "You understand, don't you, Arnold?"

He smiled back weakly. "Yeah, Lila, I understand."

"Oh how about this game?" she asked, leading him to a pink and orange game that Arnold recognized as dressed up tetris.

"Sure Lila." Arnold smiled at her but inwardly sighed.

…

Arnold went home early that night as Lila had made plans with other friends. He headed up the stairs surprisingly tired for such an early retirement and laid down on his bed. He had hoped to fall asleep but sleep seemed to evade him. Instead, he found himself staring up at his ceiling, wondering whether Gerald and Phoebe were enjoying their date at the new math museum exhibit. He was sure Gerald wouldn't be too interested in the multiple artistic depictions of Euler's Equation but Phoebe had a way of explaining and engaging Gerald in such activities to help whet his interests in topics that were generally not to his enjoyment.

Arnold sighed. He wished that he and Lila could be a bit more like that. He frowned. He shouldn't think like that, there wasn't anything wrong with his and Lila's relationship… except perhaps the fact that despite being far too similar in personality, their interests barely overlapped. Lila didn't particularly like going to sport meets, playing video games, or any of the other things Arnold generally liked to do. Their tastes in movies differed, their tastes in books differed, she had no interest in mysteries or horror classics and the slightly annoying part was that she didn't even try to. But they had just started dating and Arnold knew that some things just needed time.

Arnold looked up at the skylight and found himself wondering how Helga and Oak's relationship was going.

Oak was a topic Arnold generally stayed away from. He noted that he didn't really like talking about him with Helga. He hadn't once asked her how her dating life was going or anything even remotely related to that topic. It wasn't that he wasn't interested but rather that he genuinely didn't want to know. Though he had no idea why.

Sighing, Arnold sat up and heaved his body out of bed. Thinking about Helga made him want to see her. Hoping that she wasn't busy, Arnold made his way downstairs.

Upon reaching her door, Arnold knocked. A second later it opened to reveal Helga, who looked surprised to see him there.

"What's up, Arnoldo?" she said, moving aside to let him in.

"Hey Helga, I'm glad you're here. It's been a while."

"Pft that wasn't my fault. What with you and Little Miss Perfect glued to the hip."

"Yeah, haha. So uh, what are you up to tonight?" Arnold asked, feeling a bit awkward from her last statement.

"Why? What's it to—"

But just then, someone pushed the door open, interrupting Helga's words and Arnold watched with widening eyes as Oak walked in wearing only a towel around his waist. He was drying his hair with another towel.

Arnold blinked. Had they just been….

Arnold suddenly felt his throat close up and a fire burned at the bottom of his stomach. Was that… _jealousy_? No… it couldn't be but then that wouldn't explain why Arnold's left hand had clenched into a fist and he was physically trying to stop himself from pushing the intruder from Helga's room. For the first time in his life, he, Arnold Shortman, needed to stop _himself_ from enacting violence. He gulped, something was wrong.

"Hey Arnold," said Oak, looking just as surprised as Arnold had felt.

Arnold didn't respond.

"Hold up, treestub," said Helga sharply. "Arnold and I were—"

Arnold shook his head, having finally found his voice. "Sorry, Helga, I didn't know you had company. I— I'll catch you at another time." And before Helga could even get a chance to edge in another word, Arnold walked out of the room and the door closed shut behind him.

…

"What's up with him?" asked Oak, as he continued to dry his hair.

Helga turned from having watched Arnold nearly run out the door. _What had happened?_ "Geez I don't know, what am I his keeper? Get some pants on, will ya!" she said, annoyed.

Oak shot her an unrepentant grin, "Sorry, pants are still drying."

She rolled her eyes. "What idiot falls into a mud puddle when we haven't had rain in 3 days?"

…

After Oak's clothes had finally dried enough for him to make his way home, Helga went to find Arnold with a bag of burgers and milkshakes.

She was confused. Arnold had acted strangely when Oak had walked into her room. Of course, that stupid treestub had walked in just wearing a towel. He couldn't possibly have thought that they—? If so then had that been embarrassment in his face? But no, Helga knew what Arnold looked like when he was embarrassed, she had seen it countless of times in the years that she had known him. His expression had been something different, something foreign.

Helga found herself staring at the door leading into Arnold's room. She hadn't been here in a few weeks and she felt herself sadden at that thought. Will things ever return to normal between them? Taking a deep breath, she knocked.

"Hey sorry about that, football head," she said as she opened the door and walked in. "Stupid treestub there doesn't realize that you can't just walk into a girl's room wearing only a towel. Idiot had fallen into a mud puddle earlier and needed a place to get cleaned."

Arnold looked up from where he sat on his bed and his expression changed to that of… relief?

 _That was weird_ thought Helga and she felt herself getting even more confused.

She handed Arnold the bag of burgers and sat down next to him on the bed. She unwrapped a Mickey's double patty supreme.

Arnold smiled at her and reached in to grab his own burger. "Thanks Helga."

"Eh no problem, figured you'd be hungry even if you did eat." She took a bite and asked "So was there something you wanted to talk to me about, football head?"

Arnold shook his head, the faint outline of his smile finally dissolving. "Did Oak leave?"

"Yup, ran home once his clothes dried. So what are you doing home so early on a Friday night?"

"Lila had plans."

"Ah I see, Little Miss Perfect, ever the popular one."

Arnold laughed, "Yeah."

"So if you didn't need something from me, I'm guessing you just wanted to look at my pretty face?" Helga exaggeratingly fluttered her lashes at him.

Arnold laughed again but his eyes softened and suddenly he said, "I've missed you, Helga."

Helga felt her heart stop beating in her chest. She gulped down the food she was chewing, her mouth suddenly having gone dry. She coughed and reached for her shake but her hand touched something warm instead. Helga turned her head to look at Arnold staring back at her with his kind, caring, and concerned eyes.

Helga shook her head vigorously and removed her hand from Arnold's. He handed her the milkshake and she quickly took it from his grasp. She took a long sip, hoping the cold would wash away the sudden heat in her cheeks as well as the unsettling feelings that had stemmed from his words.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm *cough* fine, football head," she said setting the drink aside. "I must have got something stuck in my throat." Still avoiding his gaze, Helga turned toward the blank tv screen in his room. "Anything good on tonight?" she asked as calmly as she possibly could.

Arnold stood to grab his remote from his desk on the other side of his room. "Yeah, I think 'Cube' is on tonight."

 _Thank goodness_. "Great, put it on then, football head."

He shot her a grin as he worked his remote to turn on the tv and Helga's 9 year old self's heart fluttered.

Arnold sat back down beside her. She cleared her throat. "I've never actually seen this movie."

Arnold's brows rose. "What? _You_ haven't seen any of one of the most iconic cult classics?"

"Sheesh football head, it's not like I just sit around watching tv all the time."

He grinned. "It's pretty scary."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, alright Arnoldo."

The movie was already about 20 minutes in when Arnold had turned on the tv to the appropriate channel. For a while they watched in silence as they finished the food but when a particularly confusing scene came on the screen, Helga turned to Arnold and asked, "What the heck is happening?"

Arnold grinned, and pressed a finger to his lips "Shh."

Grumbling, Helga turned back to the tv but the next scene was even more confusing. She was utterly lost. She turned back to Arnold. "Hey!" She poked his leg, "I have no fricken idea what's going on."

Sighing, Arnold grabbed Helga gently by the arm and tugged her to where he sat with his back against the wall on the bed until she was tucked up neatly against his side, his arm around her waist. "Just watch," he whispered, "If I know you, you're going to love analyzing this."

Helga's body froze and her eyes were wide as she stared at the tv blankly. The math guy had just said something about a pattern in the rooms but all she was aware of was the warm body that was pressed against her and a definite heart beat that wasn't hers. She gulped. _Geezus, what is he doing? He's going to kill me!_

But Helga didn't move. Instead, she willed her body to calm down and gradually, very gradually she turned her attention back to the film, as her heart beat slowed down in time to match with his.


	10. The Spark

Hey guys, sorry for the long delay. It has been hectic in my life and I hadn't realized how busy this year was going to get before I pursued this project but I did want you guys to know that I am working on it, the progress will just be slower than I had expected. This is a very, very short chapter guys. Again apologies, trying to get back into it and juggle everything else.

Helga blinked slowly, her eyelids having slowly opened as though giving away to dried glue. Something was odd. Though it was pitch black, she knew immediately that the room wasn't hers. The bed didn't feel like hers and there was a weight against her side and partially atop her. But that wasn't what had woken her.

Something was rubbing slowly against her neck and she could feel fine strands tickling her chin. What was that? Where was she?

Her body still heavily imbued with sleep, she leisurely lay there, allowing the object to press itself against her. There was no fear, she was comfortable. Heck, she was feeling better than comfortable.

Helga blinked again and her eyes started to slowly adjust to the darkness. She slowly tilted her head down and her eyes tried to take in the recognized shape of the object.

Was she dreaming?

Warm lips started trailing its way from beneath her chin to the base of her neck. The sleep having still not left her body, her reaction was slow.

Helga involuntarily felt her head tilt back to provide better access. Was he even awake? Was she?

She could feel his warmth from the length of him and she felt a hand slowly make its way to her back and gently move in circles. Oh god, if she was dreaming she didn't want it to stop.

She felt lips trail her collar bone and she felt herself involuntarily willing it to go lower but instead it made its way back up her neck and gently pressed against her own. Helga moaned. The lips were soft and warm and moved gently almost fleetingly against hers, as if fearing hers would break. Helga opened her eyes. When had they closed?

And she found herself peering at Arnold's face… his closed eyes. He was dreaming…

 _He must be kissing some girl in his dreams…_ _probably Lila_. She felt a small contraction in her heart. Helga closed her eyes tightly. It would be wrong of her if she didn't wake him. It was wrong of him to kiss her as if she was someone else.

She moved her head back and their lips parted. She felt him move closer as a response, seeking her again and she tilted her head up. Expecting warm lips, she was a bit surprised to feel his face settle against the crook of her neck, his arms enveloping in her a warm hug and soft snoring emitting from between those two lips she adored.

Helga stared up at the ceiling. She was fully awake now and her body was in full emotional turmoil.

They must have fallen asleep while watching tv, she realized. What a pickle she had gotten herself into. She hadn't planned on any of this when she had moved into the Sunset Arms. Her goal had been only to befriend Arnold and somehow apologize for her misspent youth and then to perhaps leave for college with a clear conscience and a new slate. But instead all that happened was that she had re-realized her feelings for the football headed boy and not just that but had to re-experience her tortuous love, which was even more damning due to her inevitable maturity. And now she was in the boy's bed, cradling him against her own body, wishing to heaven and hell that her byzantine feelings would somehow leave her or that she would find the strength to leave him.

She sighed deeply. _What a joke I am_ , she thought sadly but made no move to leave.


	11. A Rainy Day

**Writer's Notes** : Hey guys!

So I felt like writing. I wouldn't say this chapter it all that great as I am still new at this romance genre and I'm also trying to keep true to the original characters while adding a level of maturity to them.

Also thank you guys for your comments, I really like reading them and they are honestly, the main reason I will continue to keep trying to finish this series because I know how much it sucks when a story is left unfinished. :)

ssssssssssa

"Why are you in such a good mood?" Gerald asked, gazing at Arnold with an arched brow.

Arnold paused in his jaunty whistling. "I don't know, Gerald," he said grinning, "It's a nice day."

Gerald glanced up at the sky, dark clouds threatened nearly every inch of it. "Uh… huh," he said slowly.

Arnold resumed his whistling as they made their way back to the boarding house and he found that he had a skip in his steps. Unbeknownst to him, he had been in the happiest of moods the past week though he had no idea why. Nothing had changed really. School was the same. His relationship with Lila was nearly the same. His friends were the same and Helga, for he found that he could not just group her with his other friends was still just as nearly absent as she had been before the night of the movie.

But it hadn't slipped Arnold's conscious mind that the night of the movie had had happened. As evidenced by the scent that lingered on his pillow, she had slept over.

She had slept with him, albeit in a friendly PG manner but it had not been with Oak. Not with Oak. He had just fallen into a mud puddle. Arnold whistling became jauntier. Just mud.

"Hey man, will you quit it? People are staring at us."

Arnold grinned again. "Let them stare, Gerald. It's a nice day."

"I don't know what kind of world you're living in." Gerald shook his head. "Just what has gotten into you. You've been in a good mood all week. It's weird. I've never seen you this cheerful."

"I don't know. I guess well, I guess I'm just feeling happy, that's all."

Gerald arched his brow. "Things going that great with Lila?"

Arnold would have heard the disbelief dripping from his best friend's words had he not been in the state he was in.

"Yeah, everything is going great," he said and it was the absolute truth. For some reason Arnold and Lila's relationship had improved, they were doing more things that interested both parties. They had even been encroaching, albeit slowly, toward the territory widely known as second base. School was the same but that was great for senior year was turning out to be a great deal less stressful than the notorious junior year and even the teacher had lain off the pressure. And that had ultimately results in more time with his friends, thought it hadn't slipped Arnold's notice that Helga was often absent during the group outings. But at least Oak had only muddied his pants.

They reached the steps of the boarding house just as it was about to rain, but unfortunately had not been spared the torrential downpour that had immediately ensued.

And too it turned out that they had not been alone for having run from the opposite direction of where they had come appeared Phoebe and Helga, who too had been caught in the rain, having arrived a couple of seconds after they did.

At first they had not immediately noticed Arnold. The door was open and the loud pattering of rain drops masked their notice of their surroundings. Arnold paused in pulling out the towels from the hallway closet.

"Well Helga," said Phoebe, "That was quite an exciting venture. What did you think of Madam Carrot's prediction?"

Arnold watched as Helga rolled her eyes and squeezed water out of her hair, which she had placed in a simple braid that day. "Please Pheebs, don't tell me you believe in that mumbo jumbo."

"Belief is a fairly strong word, Helga especially in the absence of solid and recognized scientific evidence. However, in that very same spirit, the absence of recognized evidence does not merit the complete disregard of such practices."

Helga waved a hand dismissively, sending droplets to splatter around her. "Yeah, yeah yeah, you're only saying that now because that bimbo said you'll be getting into (some really good university, I didn't want to use a real one as I can't seem to mix our world with theirs)."

Helga ran her hand over the hair on top of her head and Arnold couldn't help but draw his gaze where her white blouse had been nearly rendered translucent due to the rain.

He cleared his throat at the same time Gerald called out, having noticed the two girls on his way from calling his house on the boarding house's landline.

Both girls looked up and for a moment Arnold's gaze collided with Helga's. He smiled and was surprised to see a pink tinge color her cheeks.

"Ah I see you and football head got caught in the rain as well, huh?" said Helga, as she took the offered towel from Arnold's hand.

"Where were you two coming back from?" asked Gerald, planting a quick kiss on his girlfriend's forehead.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Helga replied but she was smirking.

"I'm afraid we can't tell you," Phoebe elaborated, "it is part of Rhonda's Halloween party and we promised to keep it a secret as she planned it to be a surprise."

Gerald shifting his gaze from Phoebe to Helga and back. "Everyone knows about Rhonda's Halloween party. It's the biggest event of the year."

"Not this year, Geraldo," said Helga. "Princess Lloyd is changing it up. She said she won't stand another year of drunken jocks breaking another one of her parent's ugly gigantic Dalmatian statues. It's going to be small party this year. Strictly invitation only."

"Huh."

"Come on Pheebs, let's get out of these wet clothes," said Helga.

"Coming!"

"What are you guys doing after?" Gerald called after them. "Arnold and I are ordering a pizza and watching a movie in his room, why don't you guys join us?"

She replied without turning around. "We'll see, hairboy."

sssssssssss

Approximately a half hour later, the girls joined Arnold and Gerald up in Arnold's room. The pizza arrived ten minutes later. Then a grueling two hours were spent watching a documentary of Phoebe's choosing.

Phoebe, Gerald, and Arnold were lounging on the floor as Helga sat on the chair in front of Arnold's computer.

They had all finished their pizza and were quietly slurping on their respective cups of soda (all except Phoebe whose knowledge of the detrimental effects of soda had been instilled in her since childhood).

"That was quite an educational show, wouldn't you agree?" said Phoebe.

"Sure was, Pheebs," replied Helga as she lifted her feet and planted them on Arnold's computer desk.

"I had no idea that there was a very plausible theory that the universe may in fact be flat," Phoebe continued. "I wonder what sufficient value the universe would have to reach for it to reach that critical closed phase."

"Uh we all watched the same show, right?" asked Gerald, looking at the others with knotted brows.

"I think that was the part that we slept through, Geraldo. Pheebs," Helga turned to her, "It's obvious we have no idea what you are talking about."

"Oh. Well, what topic of conversation should we engage in to pass the time?" she asked politely, looking at Gerald and then Arnold. They both shrugged in response.

"I got an idea," Helga chimed in, grinning devilishly. "Since you two are now dating and have been for about a couple of months now, how about we play a game?"

"What kind of game?" asked Gerald, his brow raised.

Arnold looked at Helga, unsure of what she was thinking.

Helga's grinned widened. "Never have I ever."

"I'm not sure that is wise, Helga," said Phoebe, shifting uncomfortably. "Additionally, the game is customarily played with alcohol and I know I don't need to remind you that we are underaged."

Helga rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not saying we need alcohol, we'll just drink our soda." When the rest of the group remained quiet, she went on, "Look we've all known each other since Urban Tots. This way you two love birds can really get to know each other and football head here and I can get some amusement out of it."

Gerald glared at her and Arnold shifted uncomfortably, thinking that the game could lead to more trouble than they could handle.

She raised a brow, "Come on now, don't make me pull out the chicken card like in 4th grade."

"Fine," grumbled Gerald after a minute. And Phoebe nodded. Arnold looked at his friends' faces but then nodded as well. What was the harm? It was a stupid game.

Helga clapped. "Great!" She slid off her chair and sat down on the floor between Phoebe and Arnold. "I'll start with an easy one. Never have I ever skipped school."

The looks that were sent her way were ones of disbelief. She shrugged, "What? I never had a reason to."

Both Arnold and Gerald took a sip of their drinks. Phoebe's eyes widened, "Arnold, I find it difficult to believe you have ever engaged in such activity."

Arnold blushed. "It was in the fourth grade," he explained. "We just wanted to go to Dino Land."

Helga nodded, "Alright Geraldo, how about you go next?"

"Alright, I got one," he said, gazing at Phoebe from the corner of his eye. "Never have I ever had a boyfriend before this year."

Phoebe blushed but did not drink. Gerald grinned. Helga rolled her eyes but took a quick sip.

Arnold's gaze went directly to her. He didn't ever recall seeing her with a guy nor had anyone ever mentioned her having a boyfriend. Gerald too was looking at her, "Alright, spill it, Pataki."

"It wasn't a big deal," she grumbled, "we dated for 5 months during sophomore year."

"Who?" Arnold asked, surprised that he had said the word out loud.

Helga looked at him for a fraction of a second and shrugged, "Gaspard Auclair."

"The French senior?!" the boys said in incredulous unison.

Instead of answering their rhetorical question, she said, "Alright, next question. Pheebs? And make it good; remember, this is the time where all your curiosities around Geraldo over there can be answered."

"Oh um," Phoebe stared a little uncertainly at Gerald then Arnold and then finally at Helga. "Never have I ever," she said slowly, "been in love… that is, before now."

Helga blinked. She hadn't expected that. She had been sure she was mostly safe from any of her deep dark secrets since Gerald and Arnold had never witnessed any of her hidden past nor did they seem to recall much about what had happened during their younger years to toss her a question that would hit home. And she knew that Phoebe would never intentionally blab her out.

No one moved for a moment and Helga had started to slowly raise her cup to her lips when she spotted Gerald staring wide eyes at Phoebe, who blushed prettily, her cup still in her hands, having not moved an inch.

"Uh," said Helga, standing suddenly and grabbing Arnold by the arm, forcing him to stand as well. "We'll be right back, just going to grab some uh, candy or something." She made her way toward Arnold's bedroom door, dragging the befuddled boy behind her. Neither Phoebe nor Gerald looked up.

When they got down the stairs, Arnold stopped her, questioning her silently.

Helga rolled her eyes. "Doi, football head. Did you not get the significance of Phoebe's words back there?"

Arnold blinked and then his eyes slowly widened. "Did she just—?"

"Yup, and I thought they said it months ago." She started walking, Arnold followed closely behind her. "Don't know why she picked that moment to tell him."

They reached her room and Helga plopped onto her bed. Arnold sat on the chair, facing her. "Helga," he said quietly.

But Helga had not heard him. She chuckled. "I hope they are not doing anything untoward in that room of yours, football head. I'd hate for that to have been my room."

Arnold blushed and Helga took that moment to look at him. "Geez, Arnoldo don't tell me the thought of sex has got you all nervous."

Silence met her teasing. Helga rolled her eyes and went back to staring at the ceiling.

"Hey Helga," Arnold said again, this time a little more loudly.

She didn't look at him; her gaze was still glued to the ceiling. "Yeah?"

"Back there, in my room, it looked like-- it looked like you were about to raise your cup." Arnold watched as Helga blinked, silence making its presence known heavily in the room.

She finally responded. "The game is over, football head."

It wasn't a denial. "Who?" Arnold asked, softly, gazing steadily at her face.

She still didn't look at him. "It's nothing. It was a long time ago."

"The Gaspard guy?"

A laugh burst out of Helga's mouth. "Auclair?" She laughed some more.

"Then who?"

Helga shifted and she finally looked at him. "It's none of your business, Arnoldo. Why are you so interested anyway? I didn't see you raise your cup does that mean you've never been in love?"

He shook his head.

A brow rose. "You're telling me you've never been in love?" she asked him. "Not even with little miss perfect?"

Arnold looked away for a second, thinking. He didn't know exactly what he felt for Lila but he knew that it wasn't love. He looked back at her to see her still staring steadily at him, leaning against her bent arms. "I've never been in love."

She harrumphed and plopped herself back down. Arnold got up and sat down beside her, not too close for something felt strange in the air. "Who was it, Helga?" he asked again, feeling his limbs fill with a strange energy.

She looked at him and he saw her brows knot in confusion. "What's it to you?"

Arnold thought for a second. Why was he so curious? After a moment, he shook his head. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Helga repeated. She sighed. "Then leave it alone, football head."

Helga sat up. "Let's do something. Lord knows how long it's going to take those two love birds up there and I don't want to be wasting a good Saturday night like this."

Arnold looked out of Helga's window and saw that the rain had not let up. "It's still raining, Helga."

"Then we will do something indoors. What do you say, football head?"

Arnold shrugged and moved until he could lean himself against the wall of Helga's room. Her bed was comfortable. "We could watch a movie," he suggested.

She arched a brow. "Again?"

Arnold grinned. "We can talk."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to tell you, Arnoldo."

Arnold raised his hands in capitulation. "We can talk about anything, anything at all."

"Anything?" she shot back. "If I ask you anything, you'll answer?"

Arnold smiled and nodded. "In return though, you have to answer one of mine." And before she could respond he added, "I promise it won't be about that."

Helga sighed but inched herself backward until she too was leaning against the wall, next to Arnold. "So why," she started, "are you not in love with little miss perfect? I mean you've been pinning for her like a love sick fool since the 4th grade."

A long time ago, her description of him as a fool may have irritated him but Arnold merely grinned. "I don't know, it takes a lot to love someone, Helga and I just don't think Lila and I are there yet."

Helga was silent for a while. Arnold watched as she pulled her legs up and rested her head on top of her knees, her head facing toward him. He could see her expression but he could not read it. She took a deep breath as if preparing herself then asked "How far did you two go? You know..." She was avoiding his gaze.

Arnold felt his face warm up just a little bit. "Well uh kissing and some touching."

Helga rolled her eyes and met his gaze. "Geez, talk about PG." She leaned back against the wall again. Her shoulder was close to Arnold's, not quite touching but he was strangely conscious of its heat. "Alright football head, ask your question."

Arnold cleared his throat. "How far did you go…uh, with Oak?" He watched her face steadily. She wasn't facing him but he could see her eyes widen just slightly almost as if she was surprised by the question.

She turned to him. "Football head," she said with mock outrage and placed her hand exaggeratingly on her chest, "you can't ask a lady such things."

Arnold laughed but then said, "Helga," almost warningly.

She let out an annoyed breath. "Geez football head. Fine, we're nearly as PG as you and little miss perfect there."

"Nearly?"

"Hey that doesn't mean I haven't gotten any experience," she said, almost daring him to counter her.

Arnold felt some strange twist in his gut. "You have? With that Gastard guy?"

"Pft, please that French guy barely knows how to French kiss. He was all tongue and hands." She shuddered.

"Then how do you… have experience?"

She shrugged. "Well you know a couple of dates here and there. Nothing major. Hey, I'm a warm blooded female too." She smirked at him. "Actually, I probably have more experience than you, football head. I could teach you a few things if you want."

The room somehow became deathly silent. Obviously she hadn't been serious about her offer but Arnold felt a quiet tension fill the room following her words. His heartbeat increased to a measure slightly faster than its normal rhythm. He found his gaze inadvertently following the line down the curve of her neck to—. He gulped, suddenly feeling too warm.

"Of course," came Helga's voice, coming through the haze, "you know if you weren't with little miss perfect and all. Knowing you, you probably like that stuff and I could never provide." Helga brought her hands clasped together to her face and batted her lashes at him. "Oh Arnold, that feels ever so nice. Please be gentle for I'm a tender, simple country girl."

Arnold choked.

She looked at him. "What's with you, football head?"

Arnold sat up straight and quickly moved off the bed, feeling suddenly too warm though the fall air had penetrated her room. "I'm going to grab some soda," he said thinking quickly. "I'll grab you one too." And before she had a chance to answer, Arnold found himself nearly running out of her room, leaving Helga behind with the most confused expression upon her face.


	12. All Hallow's Eve, the Cabin in the Woods

**All Hallow's Eve, the Cabin in the Woods, and Happenings**

 **Writer's Notes** : Sorry! I meant to have this out before Halloween but it looks like I missed the mark by quite a bit! Life, you know lol. The story has been heavy, kind of, on the romance lately and so I thought I'd real it back in a little Halloween themed chapter but fear not, this chapter will continue the story and of course, there is still romance! Plus, I love creepy stuff so this was inevitable. And apologies in advance, it is a little long but you're going to want to read it especially if you want to see the development between Helga and Arnold!

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Helga had been joking. She had had no more experience than the few awkward kisses she had shared with Gaspard Auclair and a couple of well, experiments with Oak. But of course, she had not expected Arnold to have taken it in the way that he had. From that moment on when he had nearly run from her bedroom, Arnold had been strange with her. _He_ had never been strange with her in all her life and Helga realized that she must have flustered him quite badly. Or perhaps, she thought, he was merely affected by her paltry imitation of Lila. Helga nearly growled. Of course, that would explain it.

"Helga, are you listening to me?"

Helga looked up and pulled an exasperated face.

"I said you can't possibly be thinking about coming to my party without a costume," said Rhonda.

 _Costume_? Helga blinked. _The stupid party._ "Yeah, yeah, yeah," she waved her hand dismissively, "Don't worry, Princess I'll be all dolled up."

When Rhonda returned to Nadine's side, Helga unwrapped a miniature candy bar and popped it in her mouth. She looked around, they were in the hallway that would start off Rhonda's party. It and first room was decorated to the nines and Helga could tell the rest of the house would be in similar fashion though she could not know for sure as Rhonda forbade anyone from seeing her surprise. They were there merely to help with the minor last minute changes.

Helga turned to Phoebe, "Anything else I have to do?"

Phoebe checked her list. "I believe the preparations for tonight are complete, Helga. The only thing left for you to do is get a costume."

Helga rolled her eyes, "I'll just go as Princess Lloyd over there."

"I don't believe Rhonda will be very pleased with that choice."

Helga shrugged, "Why not? Isn't imitation the highest compliment?"

Phoebe cleared her throat, "I'm afraid if coming from you, Rhonda will take it in more as an insult with your tendency for sarcasm and irony."

"Alright, sheesh, can't upset princess on her big night. What are you going as?"

"Gerald and I are going as peanut butter and jelly on toast."

"Of course you are. You sure you'll be able to run in that?"

"We will have quite a bit of freedom around the legs however, we may have difficulty with corners due to the rectangular nature of the bread. Why don't you and Oak select a couple's costume as well, Helga?"

Helga scoffed. "That would require we be a couple, Pheebs."

"Not necessarily, Helga, statistics say that friends tend to dress up in coupled costumes as often as romantic partners."

Helga rolled her eyes. "Knowing treestub there, he's going to want to go as a half-dressed jungle boy and I'd be forced to play a gorilla."

Phoebe giggled. "Well regardless Helga, you have less than 24 hours to procure the costume. I suggest you get to it."

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Arnold had no idea what to do. He had been admittedly always a little attracted to Helga. Perhaps not so much in his younger years but since the first night he had walked in on her making a sandwich in the kitchen, he had been physically aware of her. What had transpired between them a couple of days ago made clear one thing to Arnold: he was _very_ attracted to Helga.

"Hey Arnold!"

Arnold looked up as a hand waved across his face.

"I've been talking to you for the past 3 minutes, where'd you go?"

"Uh sorry Gerald."

Gerald shrugged it off, Arnold's daydreaming was a common occurrence. "Come on man, it's time to pick up the girls."

As they walked to Gerald's car, he gave Arnold's costume a once-over. "What are you supposed to be anyways? A Roman solider?"

Arnold shook his head as he got into the passenger side seat at the front of the car. "Mark Antony. Lila is going as Cleopatra. She picked the costume."

"Ah," Gerald replied as he backed out of his driveway.

A comfortable silence befell them for a few minutes until Gerald broke it with, "What do you think Helga is going as?"

Arnold felt his face heat up marginally.

"I spoke to Phoebe yesterday and she said Helga still hadn't picked a costume."

Arnold shook his head again and rolled down the window, hoping that the fall air would cool him down. "Knowing Helga, she'll probably go as a ghost or something along those lines."

"She hadn't been into Halloween for a few years."

"Really?" asked Arnold, disbelieving. "That doesn't sound like her, she loves scary movies."

Gerald shrugged, "I saw her at Rhonda's party every year and she never dressed up. Said she didn't care for it. Come to think of it, she stopping pulling pranks that year too. Something must have happened for her to stop."

Arnold's brows scrunched up. Before high school, Helga had been notorious for pulling scary pranks on Halloween. In fact, the younger students would always walk in twos or groups for fear of what Helga G. Pataki may have concocted. Arnold had been a particular favorite victim of Helga's if he remembered correctly. A small smile formed on his lips. He had actually looked forward to see what creative scheme she had that year and had also enjoyed getting her back a few times.

"That's also the year, she stopped hanging out with us, wasn't it? It's weird, it's like something happened that year."

Arnold stared blankly out into the row of houses. They were nearing Phoebe's. "Yeah."

"You think something happened to her?"

Arnold shook his head. "I don't know."

"Well, regardless that girl has changed. Never thought I'd spend so much time with Helga G. Pataki and not mind it."

Arnold didn't reply. Something in Gerald's words causing him to think about Helga, which he had found himself doing a lot of in the past couple of days.

"Hey babe," came Gerald's voice, cutting through his thoughts. Arnold looked up and smiled at Phoebe who made her way toward his car. He looked behind her, expecting to see Helga.

"Where's Helga?" Gerald voiced the question Arnold had opened his mouth to ask as he got out of the car. Arnold followed.

Phoebe stopped in front of them. "I believe Helga is planning on arriving with Oak. They had decided to go in a couple's costume after all."

Arnold blinked, again feeling that strange twist in his gut.

"Hello Arnold," said Phoebe smiling at him.

Arnold smiled back. "Hey Phoebe." He opened the door to the front passenger seat for her. She smiled in thanks and daintily shimmied her costume in.

Arnold got into the back seat and off they went to pick up Lila.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood

The arrival spot for Rhonda's party led them to a nearly deserted parking lot near the edge of the woods. Gerald raised a brow at him but Arnold could only shrug in response.

"Uh, is this the right place?" he asked Phoebe.

She pointed into a large path formed by strangely uniform trees. "Through there."

Gerald raised a brow again but then shrugged as he maneuvered the car onto the path into the woods.

The drive thankfully turned out to be a lot smoother than any of them had anticipated since what looked like forest path hikers rather than cars would take was in fact a dirt road that led the quartet to a cabin the woods.

Gerald whistled as he got out of the car. "That is oo-uh-ne spooky place."

"Oh dear, it is certainly more unnerving at night," said Phoebe.

Arnold helped Lila out of the car and gazed at the house. It wasn't really like Rhonda to have a party at such a place.

"It is ever so creepy."

Arnold smiled at her. "It's just a house, Lila."

"Yeah, where some sort of axe yielding psychopath resides waiting to hack us to pieces," drawled a very sarcastic and familiar voice behind them.

Surprised, Arnold turned around as did everyone else. Helga stood before them dressed in 1930's garments – a skirt, cardigan, cap, and stockings.

Oak stood by her grinning at everyone. He sported a gray suit, black tie, and a fedora.

"Hell, you might be the best damn girl in Texas," said Oak in an accented drawl, indicating to Helga who promptly rolled her eyes.

Oak grinned again and winked at everyone.

"Hey man, Bonnie and Clyde, nice," said Gerald.

Arnold stepped up besides Helga as they made their way toward the house.

"Hey football head," she said.

"Hey Helga." He tried hard not to stare at the somewhat deep neckline of her dress instead looking ahead where the other 4 members of their group were chatting away.

Helga slipped a stray curl back behind her ear. "Stupid costume" she muttered. "What are you two supposed to be? Mark Antony and Cleopatra?"

Arnold grinned at her, "You've always been good at that."

She looked at him, her brow arched. "Good at what?"

Arnold shrugged. "I guess figuring things out."

"What are you talking about, football head? You were always the one to figure things out."

"Not always. Take the FTi incident for example, you were the one who figured out how to save the neighborhood."

Helga froze for a second and Arnold turned back to look at her. She was staring at him oddly. "Are you okay, Helga?" he said.

"You haven't brought up FTi in years," she said. Her voice was a little quieter.

Arnold shrugged, "I hadn't really thought of it in years but I remember it and I'm still really grateful you were there."

Helga was quiet a moment but started walking again. Arnold proceeded to walk beside her. "Is there anything in particular you remember about that day?" she asked him, quietly.

Arnold was thoughtful for a moment. "Only that we couldn't have done it without you."

Helga let out a breath and he looked at her, his own brows knotted in confusion. She appeared relieved.

"Yeah well, it seemed like you two needed a lot of help. I didn't want to see this neighborhood go either. Now hurry up, football face or Princess Lloyd will have a hissy fit."

Arnold watched her retreating back and scratched his head. He knew suddenly that he had forgotten something important.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood

"A séance? Your party is a séance?" asked Gerald in obvious disbelief, one brow arched in question.

"A couple's séance" replied Helga with a derisive laugh. "The ghosts of failed marriages past will tell us if we're going to make it or not."

Rhonda ignored the obvious sarcasm dripping from Helga's words as she said. "Not just any séance." She suddenly pulled out a large and worn out leather book and plopped it in front of where she sat. Everyone else, who had formed a circle around her looked at it curiously.

"My daddy's assistant found this little treasure on his travels to Ireland. The book is obviously ancient and worth a fortune. But more than that, the woman who appraised it said that it might be an authentic text of… witchcraft."

Everyone was silent for a long moment. And then came an all too familiar snort. "So some voodoo hooey?"

"Oh Helga," said Rhonda, opening up the book. An unusual cloud of dust dispersed into the air. To Arnold, it had almost looked like the shape of a butterfly or moth.

"Is that what she's here for?" said Helga, tilting her head toward the direction of a middle aged woman wearing what looked like a black long flowing dress and gold bangles.

"Madam Carrot is the only one in town who can read this literature and she has kindly agreed to help."

"Oh please," Helga snorted, "How much you paying her? I bet I can do it for a fraction of the price."

Rhonda ignored her as the woman called Madam Carrot joined the circle on the floor.

"This is very ancient text." Her accent was heavy, one that Arnold could not recognize. Her long nailed fingered trailed a line of text. "Ah yes, we can call upon the spirits of the dark fire." Madam Carrot looked and gave them all a pointed glare. "But I warn you, the consequences I cannot be responsible for. Everyone must consent to this."

Helga snorted again. "Do it," she dared. "All you're going to show us is how much this is all a bunch of baloney."

Madam Carrot's features did not falter and remained serious as it went around the circle.

"Helga, I don't know about this," whispered Lila.

Helga rolled her eyes, "Go on, scare us."

Gerald leaned into Arnold's right, "I don't know, man. I mean I don't know much about this voodoo stuff but I ain't goin' around touchin' it."

Arnold nodded.

"It would be an interesting experiment," said Phoebe after another long moment of silence. "While I cannot say that I believe any occurrences would be a conclusive of an actual encounter, the experience itself, if anything does occur, can be enlightening. On the other hand, in the more likely scenario of an absence of any occurrence would just lead to further evidence of this being as Helga so aptly put it 'hooey'."

"Alright, get on with it, will ya before she starts stating a thesis."

Madam Carrot looked around the room, no one nodded nor shook their heads. Harold whined quietly but otherwise remained silent.

Madam Carrot sat down between Nadine and a boy Arnold had seen around the school but had never previously spoken to and opened the book in front of her. She set in front of her a plain black bag, which she had strung across her shoulder and pulled out several large used, off white candles, lit them, and passed them to Nadine and the boy, indicating they continue to pass the items down until every person in the circle was holding a candle.

"D-do we need to do something?" asked Harold.

Madam Carrot shushed him immediately. "I will begin the recitation, while I am speaking it is very, very important that you do not interrupt me or some dire consequence will befall you," she said gravely.

Arnold looked at Helga, knowing that her eyes would roll and a small smile formed on his face when they did.

"Follow my instructions very carefully, hold on to your candle. Do not let the flame blow out. No matter what you do, do not let it blow out."

Madam Carrot then pulled out a small leather drawstring purse, opened it, and pulled out four pebbles. They were nondescript in color and shape, so much so that Arnold was sure he could find ones just like them right outside the cabin. She threw them into the middle of the circle. The clacking of the sounds they made on the floor causing Harold to quake slightly in his seat.

Madam Carrot then turned a page in the book and began reciting in an odd language Arnold had never heard before. She continued to read for tense minutes. When she finally stopped, nothing happened; everything seemed the same, nothing in the air had changed at all. But then she began to draw symbols on the floor.

Arnold had not seen her pull out the chalk that she was holding and he had wondered when she had produced it. The symbols were odd shapes – circles, triangles, squiggles. When done, she took the candle from Nadine and placed it in front her.

"Place your candles in front of you. Make sure that the flame does not go out," she warned again.

Once all the candles were placed in front of them, she again began to draw with the chalk, except this time, she began to chant. A strange feeling began to spread over the group and Arnold noticed with fascination as his friends all began to stare at their arms. Arnold looked down at his own and since he was blonde, the hairs on his arms were not starkly noticeable but he too could see they stood on end. Then out of nowhere, a chill spread into the room and the candles in front of them started to flicker.

Arnold's eyes widened and he nearly started at something soft touching his hand. He turned to see Lila, who was staring at her own candle, her face pale and eyes wide. Her fingers searched his and Arnold laced them with his own. Just then he looked up and his eyes collided with Helga's. He tried to express with his eyes at the strangeness of the moment when all of a sudden he saw Helga's candle flicker once, twice, and go out.

A collective gasp filled the room.

"I told you not to let it go out!" came a sharp voice, cutting through his thoughts.

Helga rolled her eyes. "So what? Oo my candle flickered. The flame went out. Big deal. What's going to happen to me? A large gust of wind will knock me down?"

"You foolish girl! It'll be after you."

That seemed to break the silence as everyone started to speak at once.

" _What_ will be after her? ""Light the candle back up!" "Help her, Madam Carrot!" "I am sure the flicker was nothing more than a trick." …

"Silence!" came Madam Carrot's voice, her expression was grave. "I cannot save you, child. There was only prevention. There is no remedy."

Arnold watched as Helga rolled her eyes again but Arnold noticed that her face had lost a bit of color. He didn't believe in any of this and he was sure Helga didn't either but the pressure in the air and the words of Madam Carrot and their friends were causing her unease and possibly even distress especially since there was no immediate explanation as to what had come over them all not a moment ago. And if it was fear in her eyes…

Arnold reached out and blew out his own candle.

Immediately another gasp echoed the room and all eyes turned to him. Arnold saw as Helga's head whipped to face him so quickly that he briefly wondered if the muscles in her neck had cracked.

"Arnold, I am ever so certain you shouldn't have done that." "Arnold, what were you thinking?" "Arnold, what has gotten into you, man?" …

Arnold looked around at his friends, his eyes again paused for a moment when they met Helga. He gave her a small smile but she merely stared back at him with wide eyed disbelief on her face.

"You foolish boy," hissed Madam Carrot. She stood then. "This ritual is over; I should have never agreed to it." And in a pace much quicker than the one she had used to start the ritual, she closed it with a fast chant and drawing a large symbol atop the ones she had drawn before.

She packed her bags and moved to leave. However before doing so, she thrust two of the stones in Arnold's face. "I don't know what will come to you but something will do so. And when it does, I do not know what horrors you will face but take these stones. May they at least provide you with some kind of protection."

"Thank you," said Arnold but as soon as the stones touched his hands, Madam Carrot had dashed out of the room, leaving them in darkness. She had taken the lit candles with her.

"Mommy," came a quiet whimpered after a pregnant silence.

"Someone turn on the lights," commanded Ronda. Arnold could hear a scramble of feet and a dim, yellowed light filled the room.

"Well that was unpleasant," said Rhonda, having stood to stare at Arnold and Helga.

"Relax, princess," Helga responded but Arnold noticed that the usual bite in her words were missing. "Nothing will happen. Like I said it's all hooey."

"Gee whiz that was scary."

"Helga, even I must admit that the sudden change in the atmosphere in the room was unnerving," said Phoebe but she quickly added with a "but I am sure nothing will come of it. There has never been a case of anyone being seriously injured just from reading a book, at least, to the best of my knowledge."

Arnold felt a hand touch his arm and he turned to see Gerald with a concerned expression on his face. They moved marginally away from the group as the rest of their friends continued to argue.

"What were you thinking, man?" Gerald asked.

"I don't see what the big deal is," responded Arnold.

"Did you not feel the room? That wasn't fake."

"Come on, Gerald. Don't tell me you believe in this stuff."

"Of course, I don't," he responded, "but I'm not an idiot. There are just some things out there we just cannot explain and I believe that whatever this was tonight was one of them. I've never felt that kind of a charge before, man."

Arnold nodded, that much he had to admit.

"And you did it for Pataki," came Gerald's voice. Arnold looked at him but Gerald's gaze was back on the group. "I mean you're Arnold, I get it. You'd do it for anyone but you know, you can't just keep riding in to be her knight-in-shining-armor. In case you've forgotten that's Oak's job now."

Arnold blinked. "I wasn't trying to be –."

"No, don't get started with me. Just hear me out in this you're going to confuse that girl if you keep doing things like that."

But just as Arnold opened his mouth again to say something, Rhonda's voice rose above the chatter. "Alright, enough, back upstairs. Harold stop whining!"

And as Arnold and Gerald followed up in the rear, Arnold noticed the lights in the basement flicker before righting itself. He couldn't help but briefly wondered if something would come for him from within the night.

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The event of the evening had noticeably dampened everyone's mood, much to Rhonda Wellington Lloyd's disappointment. But even she had to admit that anything after that event would be met with lukewarm enthusiasm. And if the night hadn't been odd enough, their short experience had somehow taken had somehow lasted them four hours. So instead of a fun night of planned activities, Rhonda decided to end the night early and allow everyone to head home. And that had been the planned until the group noticed that they were in the middle of an unexpected torrential storm.

"Oh this is a nightmare!" cried Rhonda.

Harold and Nadine immediately went to console her as everyone else made themselves comfortable in the living room. Although the shack had been abandoned, Rhonda had decorated it to the nines with dark velvet cushions and curtains and even a large couch and several ornate chairs though Helga was certain that neither of these were real genuine Winhind furniture that decorated the Lloyd residence.

"What was the point of coming in costume anyways?" said Sid as he followed Gerald to the kitchen to grab some pizza.

"Gee wilikers, my pa said that if time passes that quick without you realizing it, it's gotta be those darn aliens."

"Aliens, Stinky, really?"

Helga rolled her eyes. It seemed that princess Lloyd had returned, at least partially, to her normal self.

Helga walked over to the unoccupied window nook seat and plopped herself down, her legs stretched out and pushing into the cushions as she watched the rain patter down in droves. She had ditched treestub not two minutes ago to the hands of, bless her, Phoebe, who had figured out that Helga needed some time to think not because of some hussy who had told her she would literally be hunted down by some _thing_ but rather because of a certain action made by a certain football head that came afterwards.

Obviously it had been because Arnold didn't believe in any of that crap that Madam Cucumber threw out and she was sure he had done it because of his goody two-shoes nature didn't want her to be alone in whatever condemnation that ridiculous ritual left everyone in but some part of Helga wondered if maybe just maybe that was because he cared for her. That maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't have done that for just anyone. Alright, this was football she was talking about so he would have done it for anyone but maybe, just maybe he did this one particular action because it was her, because _she_ was the one who possibly be in trouble.

Helga sighed and looked out the window. It was raining hard, so much so that she could see barely a foot in front of her.

"Hey," came a soft voice from behind her.

Helga froze but willed herself to release the tension in her muscles. She turned, "hey, football head."

"Mind if I join you?" he asked, indicating the seat her leg was currently occupying.

Helga sighed but moved her leg, just enough to provide Arnold with a little bit of sitting room.

"Thanks, Helga." He smiled. "So you don't… believe in any of that stuff Madam Carrot said, right?"

Helga scoffed. "Why? Worried your act of selfless bravery will force you into actually having to defend me from some kind of monster?"

Arnold gave her a patient look and Helga immediately felt like a jerk.

"I didn't mean—" she began but then stopped. "Don't worry football head, like I said, it's all hooey. I don't know how she got the candle to flicker but they were her candles so hey, she probably rigged them."

Arnold nodded. "I was worried you were actually troubled that something might happen to you."

Helga scoffed again, "please. Don't forget you are talking to Helga G. Pataki here."

Arnold smiled and they lapsed into a comfortable silence before Arnold spoke again. "By the way, I would have done the same even if it wasn't an imaginary danger."

Helga looked at him for a long moment, her eyes perusing his face in search of any signs of dishonesty, in equal measure fearful of what his words meant and hopeful that they might actually mean what she had been hoping not 5 minutes ago.

But before she could reach any kind of conclusion. She saw it.

She didn't know how she could possibly see it what with the heavy rain blurring the image of everything beyond a foot from the window but she did see it.

"What the hell is that?" she whispered to no one in particular.

But Arnold was there so he had heard her. "What?" he turned around to face the window as he had been facing away from it the entire time. "What are you talking about?" he asked her.

But Helga didn't respond, she squinted her eyes at an attempt to get a clearer view.

"Is that… a deer?" asked Arnold.

"It- it couldn't be," she replied, still squinting hard.

She felt more than saw Arnold turn to her, "why not?"

Helga gulped, unable to tear her eyes away from the creature, she reached back and grasped him by the arm as she whispered, "it's on its hind legs."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood

"What are you talking about Helga?" asked Arnold again, in a whisper, for what seemed like the hundredth time.

It was already midnight and the rain had not let up, in fact, although it seemed impossible, the rain had fallen harder, making it impossible for any of them to leave. All their friends had shed most of their costumes for a more comfortable evening, thankfully no one had been naked beneath.

None of the other rooms in the cabin had beds or any furniture minus the large living room and the first room, which had served as their dining room. For this reason and because the living room had a large couch, a wide area rug, and a fireplace everyone decided to spend the night together huddled up in the living room. And while no one wished to speak of it, that night's previous event lingered on in everyone's mind adding silently to the confirmation to spend the remaining hours together.

"Football head, I told you what I saw," she whispered back.

"A deer on its hind legs, I know but why—deer can stand on their hind legs if they need to."

"You saw it too!" she hissed, "I know you did. It wasn't standing on its hind legs like a normal deer would. It was bipedal. It was standing like a human!"

Arnold shook his head. It just simply was physiologically impossible. "Helga what you're saying – maybe you just saw it when it was temporarily risen up like that."

"No, Arnold," she hissed as she settled into the rug near the window seat she and Arnold had vacated earlier. "It was standing there for the entire 15 minutes we sat there staring at it. It didn't move and it was staring straight back at us."

Arnold sat down beside her. He had seen it too though not in its entirety as Helga had.

"I bet it's still there," she said, staring at the window.

But it the moon had been completely covered by the cloud and it had become much too dark to see.

"Crimeny," Helga shivered. Arnold took her hand and squeezed before removing the cloak from his costume and covering them both.

He wasn't sure what they had seen outside or if Helga had seen it correctly but he did know that Helga G. Pataki was genuinely afraid.

"Shouldn't you get back to Little Miss Perfect?" said Helga.

Arnold turned to look in the direction Helga indicated and saw Lila huddled up with Nadine and Rhonda. He gazed around the room and found Oak, who was sitting on the floor with Harold and Stinky, enjoying what was left of the pizza Harold had brought to Rhonda's annoyance.

Neither of their respective partners seemed to be concerned that they weren't together.

"It's getting worse out there," said Gerald as he plopped himself down between Arnold and Helga. Phoebe did the same and the cloak Arnold had graciously set on them graciously slipped away from him.

"It is very peculiar," added Phoebe, "I had checked the weather forecast earlier this evening but there had been no mention of such a storm. While I am aware that weather prediction is rather an imprecise science due an immeasurable amount of variable, it's never been _this_ far from accurate before."

Helga fidgeted a bit and Arnold turned to Gerald. If anyone would know these two would.

"Hey guys, have you ever heard of a bi-pedal deer?"

Gerald gave him a strange look before Phoebe, who found Arnold's question not unusual, spoke. "Well Arnold, it isn't uncommon for deer to rise up on their hind legs. Experts speculate that it is mostly to show signs of dominance in face of opposition."

"How long can they stay like that?" cut in Helga.

"Well," said Phoebe who gave Helga a curious look, "I believe they have been known to stay in that position for a few minutes at a time or if engaged in combat, which then they can lean their bodies against the similarly raised body of their opponents."

"Say 15 minutes, have they ever been known to stay like that for 15 minutes, with nothing to lean on? Like in a straight 90-degree angle. With no other deer around."

"Well," said Phoebe slowly, "not to my knowledge. It isn't common that they are filmed in that position. However, I do not see what purpose they'd stay in that position if not to declare dominance or to try and scare away a threat. I'd imagine that the distribution of their weight onto their hind legs could cause some damage, which would not be beneficial to any animal's main objective, survival."

"Thanks Phoebe," said Arnold. His eyes met Helga's for a moment before turning back to their friends.

"Why are you guys asking?" said Gerald, with a raised brow. "You didn't… see anything, did you?"

Arnold was about to respond but Gerald continued, "'Cause if you did, then what you probably saw was a skinwalker."

"A what?" asked Arnold.

"A skinwalker, you know, Native American lore."

"Look hairboy, obviously we don't know what you're talking about," said Helga, agitation barely concealed in her voice.

Gerald held up his hands, "Alright, a skinwalker is a creature from Native American legend. They say when they target you as their next victim, odd things start to happen, like you start hearing your own voice outside of your window. Apparently if they get you, they take over your body and walk in your skin." Gerald shivered, "talk about creepy."

"What does that have to do with the deer, Geraldo?" said Helga, losing patience.

Gerald shrugged, "legend has it, when you first see a skinwalker, it's in the form of a bipedal deer. But that is not the only indication, if you can get close enough to see its eyes, you'll see only black." He shrugged again, "but man, if this has to do with that weird Madam Carrot's reading, don't worry, skinwalkers are Native American legend, not whatever Irish Celtic stuff she read." He turned to them with a questioning gaze, "why are you guys asking about this stuff anyways?"

Arnold looked at Helga of a moment before responding, "We were just curious."

"Uh, huh" said Gerald, slowly.

Their conversation away from the topic and toward school until night slowly edged on and everyone had fallen asleep. Helga remembered seeing 2:50AM on the large mantle clock before her eyes steered over her friends, toward the sleeping football head, and finally drifted shut.

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Helga woke to the sounds of a rhythmic _tap, tap, tap_ that assaulted her ears. It wasn't loud or really all that noticeable but its incessantness had finally reached her. She slowly opened her eyes and peered at the sleeping faces of her friends. She sat up, the room was cold and she saw that the fire had died down.

Helga stood up and made her way to the fire place. She was surprised to see that no remnants of the fire remained except the ash of previous burnt logs. She knew from experience that it took hours for embers to die out, especially if there was enough wood. She looked up, her eyes searching the clock and was surprised to see that the time still read 2:50AM.

Helga reached out and placed the clock against her ears, _tick tock_ it went. She watched it for a moment, confirming that the hands moved and the second hand was timed correctly. It was. Helga set the clock back down on the mantle, certain then that she must have read it wrong before falling asleep. She reached over and placed some logs and kindling into the fireplace. She lit a match and threw it onto the kindling but it did not catch and the match blew out.

 _What the hell._

Helga lit another one and threw it into the fireplace. It too went out before the kindling caught. She lit another and another and another but all to the same effect. She reached out and added more kindling and tried once more but nothing happened.

A bit unnerved, she placed the match back onto the mantle but that was when she heard it again. _Tap, tap, tap_. She had forgotten about the sound, forgotten that that had been what had awoken her.

Helga turned to the direction of the sound. It was coming from the window she and Arnold had vacated earlier. _Tap, tap, tap._

She couldn't hear the sounds of the rain any longer. Then what was that sound? _Tap, tap, tap._ The tapping came in threes but the timing was constant and the pauses in between the sets were constant. _Tap, tap, tap._

Helga froze in her spot, uncertain of whether she should go forward. All of her friends were asleep and no one made a sound. _Tap, tap, tap._

If she just ignored it and went back to sleep, would it stop?

Helga shook her head. _Tap, tap, tap._ The sound was too constant. Helga walked toward the window, her curiosity overtaking her fear.

 _Tap, tap, tap._ The sound was louder now that she was by the window. Helga hesitated a moment before reaching over and pulling back the current.

 _Tap. Tap. Tap._ The sound was slower now.

For the first time in her life, Helga knew that true fear truly does leave one unable to move for standing before her was something he had never expected to see. Smiling back at her in the wrong way was the face of the man she had loved all her life.

"A-Arnold?" she whispered, terrified. He continued to stare at her smiling, tapping slowly, consistently on the glass of the window but his face wasn't right. It was too wide and his eyes were too fixed, his pupils too large and his eyelids too withdrawn.

"Arnold?" she whispered again, not moving from her spot by the window.

"Helga?" came a soft, drowsy voice from behind her.

Helga turned quickly to see Arnold sitting up, rubbing an eye to remove sleep from his face. Helga turned quickly back to the window but that Arnold was no longer there.

"What are you doing?" Arnold had stood up and joined her. He looked at her, concern etched on his face "Are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost."

Helga didn't respond. She hadn't a clue how to explain to him what had just happened.

"Helga?" he asked.

 _Helga? Helga?_ Came a voice from behind them, through the glass. Helga froze and saw Arnold do the same.

"What was that?" whispered Arnold.

Helga shook her head, willing him not to speak.

 _What was that? What was that? Helga? Helga? What was that?_

Arnold's eyes widened and Helga saw the fear in them. She was sure it was mirrored in her own eyes.

Neither of them moved and they stood silent for a while. Then she saw Arnold's eyes widen and Helga felt the hairs of her arms rise.

"Hey Arnold," she whispered. "W-what do you see?"

But Arnold didn't immediately respond. Helga slowly turned around and found herself staring again at a familiar face except this time it was her own.

It was smiling back at her again in that unnatural expression. _Hey Arnold. Hey Arnold. Hey Arnold._

Helga gulped.

Then _Tap. Tap. Tap._

Helga felt a hand grasp hers and Arnold suddenly stepped forward toward the Helga on the other side of the glass, pushing her behind him as he did so.

"What do you want?" he asked it quietly.

 _What do you want? What do you want?_ It repeated in its Helga, but not quite Helga, voice.

"Don't talk to it," said Helga suddenly. "It's repeating everything we say."

The other Helga turned to look at her. _Repeating everything we say. Don't talk to it. I want. I want. I want you._

Helga felt dread lace itself down her spine. Arnold's fingers tightened around hers.

Another _Tap. Tap._ _Tap_. sounded but this time from another part of the house. Arnold and Helga turned, startled but quickly turned back to the window, wanting to keep it in their sights, but the other Helga was gone.

 _Tap. Tap._ _Tap_.

"It's coming from the back room, I think," whispered Helga.

Arnold nodded and not daring to release her hand, led the way. The room at the back of the cabin was void of all furniture and even curtains. Arnold and Helga could clearly see the other Helga through the window. How it had made that sound at another window while they were looking at it was beyond them.

Arnold stopped in the hallway and released Helga's stand. "Stay here," he told her firmly.

For a second, annoyance won out over the fear and Helga cocked a brow at him but Arnold didn't notice and stepped into the room without her. Helga stayed still for just a second before following him into the room. She stepped up beside him and immediately, without looking back, he took her hand into his.

 _Hey Arnold. Hey Arnold._

Neither of them said anything as they watched the thing grin.

"Get out of here," said Helga but the other Helga merely looked at her and turned her head far to the side in such an unnatural fashion that they could not stop the shiver that rippled through their bodies. It was grinning all the while.

 _Tap. Tap. Tap._ It knocked again.

"Can it get into the cabin?" asked Helga, not daring to remove her eyes from the window.

The thing turned its head again slightly as though listening.

Arnold shook his head. "The front door is locked."

The other Helga's smile seemed to widen. It moved away from the window and Helga immediately saw where it was heading.

"The cellar," she whispered. They ran quickly to the door that separated the main cabin from the cellar. Arnold engaged the lock just as they felt the handle of the door turn.

"Jesus Christ, it's in the house," said Helga.

"We need to wake the others," Arnold said as he pulled a chair from the kitchen table and pushed it beneath the door knob.

They made haste in their way into the living room but paused immediately upon the threshold. The spots where their friends had lain not minute before were empty. All their belongs too were gone.

"Where are they?" whispered Arnold.

Helga shook her head, suddenly more frighten than she had been during the entire encounter. They were alone.

 _Hey Arnold. Hey Arnold. Helga? Helga?_ came the voice on the other side of the door. It was no longer trying to turn the knob and had returned to its incessant tapping. _Tap. Tap. Tap._

Helga ran the window on the far left. "Maybe we can run to the car and book it out of here," she said but as soon as she got there, she slammed her fist against the wall. "Damnit, the cars are gone. What in the world is going on here? Could they have left without us?"

Arnold shook his head, "We would have heard them." He ran a hand through his face. "Maybe if we can get out of here and make it to the road."

"You saw that thing, football head. It went from that window to the back one faster than a blink of an eye."

Arnold shook his head. "I know but I don't see what else we can do."

Helga took a deep breath to calm herself. They could still hear that horrible tapping. She nodded, "Okay."

They quietly made their way to the door, Arnold again having taken her hand in his as they listened closely to make sure that the tapping continued. But just as Arnold had his hand on the front door knob, the tapping from the cellar stopped.

Arnold froze. And the tapping started up again in front of them. "We're trapped," Helga whispered. His hand tightened around hers. He pulled her away from the door and toward a small, empty closest.

"What are you doing?"

Arnold opened the closet door, pulled Helga in, and closed it behind them. "It can't get through locked doors, at least it doesn't try to. Maybe we can wait it out and it'll disappear by morning."

Helga bit her lip. They crouched down until they sat on the cold floor.

For long minutes they waited in silence they waited as the tapping continued. They could hear the thing moving, sometimes the tapping was at the window where they had sat together earlier that night, sometimes it was at the back room, the kitchen, the front door. It continued to move throughout the house but this time, each new iteration of tapping was faster.

"Are we going to die?" Helga whispered, fear obvious in her eyes.

Arnold stared at her for a long moment but then shook his head. He turned her around to face him and place his hands over her ears. His own fear shook him but hers debilitated him.

He looked into her eyes and for once she held his gaze.

"Crimeny football head, your hands are cold," she whispered so softly that if he hadn't been staring so intently at her, he would not have heard them. She placed her hands over his. The tapping was picking up speed. "A-Arnold, I-I'm sorry. I wish you hadn't blown out your candle."

Arnold stopped her, "We don't know if this is even due to that. You heard Gerald."

Helga laughed but it was devoid of mirth. "Then this is one hell of a coincidence, football head. Take my apology. If you just weren't so – such a _football_ _head_ , you wouldn't have been pulled into this."

Arnold continued to look at her face, a small smile on his lips. "Like I said, I would have blown out the candle either way."

Helga laughed but shook her head sadly. She was quiet for a moment. The tapping had stopped and then started again but this time much louder.

"There's something I need to tell you since it's looking possible that we may not be long for this earth and all and I figured you should know—" Her words trailed off.

Arnold looked at her but she remained silent. Helga turned briefly to look at the closed door of the closet and turned back to face him. She shook her head and Arnold saw the exact moment when the resolve took her. "I—" but Arnold had no idea what she was about to say or if she had in fact, planned to say it at all for just then, she placed her hands on his face and leaned in and gently touched her lips to his.

He froze but only for a second. His hesitation was gone in the instant Helga sat up and pressed her body against his, pushing him onto the floor of the closet. Arnold's arms wrapped around her waist and he pulled her closer toward him. Perhaps it was the fear, perhaps it was the adrenaline, perhaps it was the fact that they were about to die but Arnold had never felt so right in his life than in that moment their lips met.

A breathy moan came from between them but Arnold was not sure from whom it came. Nor did he care as his hands push into the silky strands of her hair and gently brought her closer to him.

He could feel her heart beat wildly against his chest, his own picking up speed to match with hers.

 _Tap. Tap. Tap._ came the dreaded sound, softly and this time, right outside the closet door. They froze. Helga lifted her head but her eyes remained on his.

And Arnold wasn't sure exactly when he knew what would happen, but before he could do anything, Helga kissed him once more, pushed him further onto the ground, stood up, and turned to him with one word upon her lips that filled him with dread – "Run" before opening the door and leaving the closest.

And leaving Arnold alone to deal with the consequences.

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 **Writer's Notes** : Dun Dun Dun! Lol no, don't forget this is a "Hey Arnold" story that I'm trying to keep as close as possible to the original series so obviously this is what happens next:

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Arnold blinked, artificial light suddenly crowding his vision.

"Hey Arnold. There you are, man. Where the heck have you guys been? Phoebe and I have been looking all over for you."

Arnold turned to see Gerald, looking at them with a raised brow.

"What's up with you? It looks like you guys saw a ghost or something." Arnold looked at Helga, who was only a foot away from him since he had quickly run after her as soon as he realized what she had been planning to do. She was staring at their friends with a bewildered expression.

"Is everything alright, Helga?" came Phoebe's concerned voice.

"Did you guys just come out of the closet?" asked Gerald, his brow arched even higher than before.

Arnold blushed. "Were you guys here the whole time?" Just then Arnold noticed the music and that the cabin was a lot more crowded than before. Curly, who hadn't been present previously, waltzed by in a swan costume with a "hey guys!"

"You alright, man? You hit your head in there or something? Wait, what _were_ you two doing there anyways?"

Arnold quickly replied, "We're fine" as Helga took the drink Phoebe offered and downed it.

"You guys weren't hiding from that 'thing' Madam Carrot said would haunt you, were you?" Gerald ask, laughter in his voice.

Helga glared. "Where is she?" she asked, her voice low and dangerous.

"Are you referring to Madam Carrot, Helga?" asked Phoebe. She pointed to the far side of the dining room where a very relaxed Madam Carrot was doing a Tarot reading to Sheena and Nadine.

Helga marched forward. Arnold followed quickly after, assuring Gerald that he would explain everything to him later as he did so.

Helga slammed her hands onto the table "What the hell was that?"

Madam Carrot looked up. "I do not know what you speak of, child," she said in her unrecognizable accent.

Helga shooed Sheena and Nadine away and reached over the table, her face coming within inches from Madam Carrot's.

"Helga," came Arnold's soft voice.

"That skinwalker creep. How the hell did you do that? How did you get it to come after us? How did you get time to stop? That thing could have killed us!"

Madam Carrot stared back at her for a long while before her entire demeanor changed. "Hey, kid," she said, a clear Boston accent replacing the previous one, "I don't know what you are talking about. I'm from Boston. I do this as a side gig. If you's talkin' about that candle thing, it was a fake. Trick candle honey, can buy it at any magic trinket store. Can't believe you bought it. Thought you'd be too old for that."

Helga growled but Arnold's hand on her arm stopped her. He pulled her back and away from Madam Carrot. Thankfully, the party before them was in full swing and so the music was loud enough to mask the scene leaving them without any unwanted onlookers.

"What the hell was that?" Helga said to no one in particular, the anger still clear in her voice.

Arnold shook his head. "I don't know, Helga. I mean it couldn't have been a dream, we both had it and we did just come out of the closest."

Helga let out a slow breath.

"Helga, back there—"

"Let me stop you right there, Arnold," her voice was low and calm but she wasn't looking at him. "Whatever happened back there was just like the rest of this idiotic night, it never happened."

She then stood and Arnold reached out a hand to her but before he knew it, Lila called out to him. "Arnold!"

Arnold looked up and tried to smile as Lila reached his side. And when he finally turned back to Helga, she was gone.

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 **Writer's Notes** : Please let me know if you liked this chapter! Or even if you didn't! All comments are appreciated!


	13. Some Uneventful Afternoons Fan Service

**Some Uneventful Afternoons *Fan Service***

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 **Writer's Notes:** Sometimes things just happen without a big bang.

P.S. A part of this chapter is more fan service than anything since it's likely that I won't be posting for a little while again. This is my way of apologizing! Of course, it does also serve to push the story along.

 **Warning!** This chapter is the reason why this story is rated M (nothing horribly explicit).

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"Hi Lila, do you have a second?"

"Of course, Arnold." Lila smiled at him and moved to the side to let him pass.

Arnold looked around, he rarely ever visited Lila's house. They had never had the need to and she had always seemed to prefer to visit his. The house was small but the decorations were warm and homey, much like the girl herself.

Lila indicated that he sit next to her on the flower patterned couch. He smiled at her in thanks when she offered a glass of lemonade.

"Are you alright, Arnold?" Lila asked, peering at him closely.

"I need to speak to you." Arnold rubbed the back of his neck. "I," he said slowly, still unsure of how to phrase his words. Finally, he decided better to just come out with it. "I kissed someone else."

Lila sat quietly next to him for a while but to his surprise, her expression was thoughtful rather than angry. "I see," she finally said and fell silent. "Actually," she said slowly, "Actually Arnold, I have been meaning to talk to you."

He looked at her, unsure of where the conversation was steering. Arnold had never done anything like this in the past so he had no precedence to go off of. Never mind that he hadn't been the one who instigated the kiss. In fact, he wasn't entirely sure why he felt the need to admit to Lila what had happened. It became immediately obvious to him that Helga had kissed him to distract him but the problem was that he simply could not deny his response to the kiss. And that was the reason he knew he had to tell Lila.

"Arnold," she said slowly, "I think we should break up."

He looked up. "What?" he hadn't exactly been expecting that. "It was just a kiss, Lila."

"It's not the kiss, Arnold " she said slowly, patiently. "And I am ever so certain that if you gave this more thought, you would come to agree with me. We started dating because you were curious-"

Arnold shook his head, "Lila, that's not true -"

"And I must admit that I was a little bit as well." She continued. She then smiled, "There's someone much better for you than me. I do like you, Arnold and I was ever so pleasantly surprised to find out that as a couple, we suited pretty nicely. But Arnold, that was all it was."

"Lila, I-"

"I am ever so certain you will come to understand what I mean." She patted his knee affectionately. Arnold merely stared at the action, dumbfounded. "We will still be friends, won't we?"

Arnold smiled but it was weak. "Of course, Lila."

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"I don't know, Gerald. I wasn't exactly expecting that as a response."

"Yeah, I-" Gerald's voice got cut off as a loud "Mooooooomm!" came through the receiver.

"Sorry man," said Gerald immediately afterward. "I'm in the middle of Kimberly's weekly mother - daughter fight."

"Don't worry about it, Gerald. We can talk about it another time."

"Alright cool, maybe we can meet at Slausen's later tonight?"

"Yeah, sounds good. I'll see you later."

Arnold hung up the phone, lay back on his bed, and stared up at the skylight. He had left Lila's house after the uncomfortable conversation an hour ago and had attempted to figure out how he felt. The surprising thing was that he had known that she hadn't been wrong. He had had those same thoughts, though sparse, scattered here and there while they were dating.

He wasn't exactly upset but-

Knock. Knock.

Arnold sat up in his bed as his door opened and Helga walked in.

"Hey football head," she said, holding up a bag of what he assumed was Mickey's burgers. It occurred to him that she hardly ever came looking for him without some kind of offering. "Geraldo asked me to come check on you," she stepped into the room. "I thought you would be with Little Miss Perfect tonight."

It had been a week since Arnold had actually spoken to Helga, ever since the strange night at the cabin in the woods. He had tried to speak with her a few times before then but was always met with the same irritated response that there was nothing to talk about, that evidenced by their friends, nothing had actually happened. So Arnold had let the matter lie and had not brought it up again.

And now he debated whether he should tell Helga that he and Lila were no longer together. They were friends, quite good friends in fact, and Arnold felt that he would be doing her a disservice by not letting her know.

"Actually, Helga, Lila and I are no longer together."

Helga stopped where she stood by his desk, having set down the burger and having been going through his c.d. collection. She froze for a moment before turning to him.

"I'm sorry, foot- Arnold. I- Little Miss Perfect doesn't know what she's doing. I'll go over there and talk to her. I knew she had a screw loose but this - but this-."

"Helga," said Arnold quickly. "It's okay."

"Football head, she broke up with you, right?"

"Yeah, but..."

For once, Helga stood patiently waiting for Arnold to finish what he had been trying to say.

"... it's okay," he finally finished, realizing that his words were in fact true.

"How can that be? I mean- since the fourth grade, you were-." She started fidgeting with the cd case that she held in her hand.

Arnold felt a small smile forming on his lips as he watched her.

She set down the cd case and walked over to where he sat on the bed, sitting down next to him. Arnold noticed that she sat as far away from him as she could get before facing him. "If it's any consolation at all, football head, she doesn't know what she's missing. Like I said, she's got a screw loose or something..." Her words trailed off. "Sorry."

Arnold smiling, having forgotten how nice it was to have her around. "So Gerald asked you to come check on me?"

Helga rolled her eyes but Arnold could see that she was relieved for the change in topic. "Yeah, tall hair boy sent me a cryptic message that you may need my oh-so-pleasant company."

Arnold stood up, still smiling as he walked over to grab the bag of burgers. "I didn't know you guys talk."

Helga rolled her eyes, "We don't, not really. I mean alright, tall hair boy isn't so bad and we have conversations once in a while just the two of us when we're waiting for Phoebe or when she's in the bathroom."

Arnold smiled, Gerald had said much the same not too long ago.

He handed Helga a burger and sat on the ground near her legs, opening his and taking a large bite.

He felt a small nudge on his side and he looked up. "So... you alright, football head?" she said awkwardly.

Arnold couldn't help but smile. He knew Helga was uncomfortable with sentimental situations, she had shown as much in the years he had known her but just the fact that she was trying now meant a lot to him. "Yeah, Helga."

"Good," she grumbled and took a bite of her burger.

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"So what do you want to do today, football head?" asked Helga as she lounged on his bed, flipping through the channels.

Arnold closed the textbook he had finished reading and set it to the side. It was Saturday afternoon and all of their friends were busy. They had no plans, they had finished their school work, and there was nothing good on t.v..

Helga sighed as she flipped through more channels. She paused in her board search to watch the ending scene of an old 60's sitcom. Arnold joined her on the bed.

"Crimeny, is there anything good on today?" Helga said out loud to no one in particular. Helga turned off the t.v. and tossed the remote to the foot of the bed.

They were both silent for a while, not talking, not having much to say.

They looked up to the sky, through Arnold's skylight. The weather was fine, not too sunny, not too bright, not too dreary, not too wet. In fact, it was not much of anything. Like the day, it seemed it too had nothing to say.

"We should do something to pass the time," said Arnold.

"What an inspirational idea, football head," she replied but the boredom hampered her intended sarcasm.

Helga continued to look up; her gaze followed the clouds, but could spot no identifiable shapes. Even they seemed not to be cooperating today.

Helga peered at Arnold from the corner of her eye. He was gazing at the sky thoughtfully. With an exaggerated groan, she turned and gracelessly draped a leg over his. Arnold turned to look at her. She shrugged then flopped a limp arm atop his chest.

"Helga?" he asked with a questioning gaze.

Helga sat up. "Hey football head, let's have a wrestling match."

"What?" Arnold sat up, surprised.

"Come on," she punched him lightly on the shoulder. "It'll be a fun way to pass the time."

Helga waited as Arnold looked at her a bit warily. "Geez, football head, it's not like I'm going to hurt you."

Arnold's brow rose.

"You were always smaller than me as kids but now that you've grown up into a big strong man, I wanna know how you hold up. Don't get me wrong, football face," she grinned smugly, "I doubt you can beat me but you may get a point or two just from sheer strength alone."

Helga grunted in surprise when she felt Arnold's arms encircle her waist and suddenly tackle her onto the bed.

Recovering quickly, she snaked an arm beneath his right arm pit and the other behind his head and locked them. Helga quickly pivoted her weight, dislodging Arnold from atop her and flipped him over onto his back.

She stared down at him, her hands still locked behind him, and smirked triumphantly. But she was surprised to find Arnold grinning back. Her hold loosened slightly and Arnold took that moment to turn her, allowing him to fully slip out of her grasp. He grabbed a hold of her wrists and pinned her lightly onto the bed, his bent knees trapping her legs beneath him.

Helga struggled for a long moment then finally relaxed her muscles and sank back ontot he bed. "Crimeny, you're stronger than you look, football head," Helga said, trying to catch her breath.

Arnold grinned, staring down at her (literally, not figuratively). "Thanks, Helga. You're still pretty strong yourself."

Helga struggled a bit but Arnold made no move to get off of her.

"You can get off of me now, football head," she said, rolling her eyes. "You've proven your manly prowess."

Arnold blushed slightly and rolled over, "Sorry, Helga."

Helga sat up and again they lapsed into bored silence. "You know," she said casually, breaking the quiet's unbearable momentum, picking at a loose thread from Arnold's bedsheets. "We can always do what other teenagers do to pass the time."

When Arnold didn't immediately respond, Helga looked up to find him peering at her with a confused expression.

Helga rolled her eyes, her exasperation obvious. "Make out, football head. That's what teenagers do."

Arnold's mouth fell open slightly. "What?"

Helga rolled her eyes again, trying to mask the annoying nervousness that suddenly got a hold of her. "Geez, football head, it's not like I'm asking you to be in a relationship with me or anything. I'm talking about a quick makeout session to help a boring afternoon go by."

Arnold didn't respond and continued to stare at her with a slightly dumbfounded expression.

"What about Oak?" he finally asked.

"What about treestub?" said Helga, arching a brow. "What does he have to do with it?"

"Won't he be... upset?"

"Treestub?" Helga scoffed, "He's probably doing the same right now with some other hussy. I don't know if you've noticed Arnoldo but treestub is surprisingly popular." She scoffed again, "though I don't know what they see in him."

Arnold blinked. "Aren't you..." he said, "dating?"

Helga looked at him in surprise. "What made you think that, football head? I mean yeah, he asked me and maybe we had one date but it was casual and well, sometimes we make out, but much like how I am suggesting we do right now, to pass the time."

Arnold just continued to stare at her.

"Geez, football head, say something!" she said, annoyed. "If you don't want then just say so, don't just sit there, staring at me like a dumb fish out of water."

Arnold shook his head. "No, I'm not saying that I don't want to. I'm just- I'm just a little surprised."

Helga rolled her eyes and plopped back onto her back. "Well wake me up when you get out of your daze, Arnoldo."

Helga felt the bed shift slightly and a weight slide up next to her. "I- are you sure you sure you want to, Helga?"

Helga rolled her eyes again, "Yes, I'm sure! What's the big deal anyways. Our whole culture is built on people casually hooking up. It doesn't mean jack. Plus, it's not like we're going to be doing _that_." She sat up, "Look, I'm a warm-blooded female and you are the closest warm-blooded male. I'm bored. You're bored. Easy solution."

Arnold continued to look at her for another moment and Helga had just reached the point of getting up and leaving when he nodded.

ooooooooooooooooooooox

Helga's heart treatened to beat out of her chest. She couldn't believe that Arnold had just agreed to a casual makeout session. She would have thought that mr. goody two shoes wouldn't consider anything of such a nature without being romantically involved. She internally cringed as she wondered if perhaps he had agreed only because they were friends and he didn't want to reject her.

Helga nearly jumped out of her skin when Arnold reached over and pulled her up to a sitting position to face him.

 _Breathe. Breathe. Breathe, Pataki, breathe!_ She tried desperately to still her rapidly beating heart as she looked at Arnold, who began leaning in and slowly started to reduce the distance between their bodies.

For one small moment before his lips touched hers, Helga felt her body tense and panic take her. But then she felt his hands take a hold of hers and laced their fingers together. For a moment she worried he could feel the rapidity of her pulse and know that she was not as debonair about the entire matter as she pretended to be, that he would know that the kiss wouldn't simply be just a kiss to her.

Helga shut her eyes tightly as Arnold moved closer, his breath intermingling with hers. Their lips touched and for a second, Helga forgot how to breathe. It was beautiful, magnificient. Sure, this wasn't how she expected their first kiss that was neither a dare or as a result of their belief that they would die. And sure, she was kissing him under the pretense that she was bored and it was a good way to pass the time. But the kiss was everything 9 year-old Helga had hoped it would be and everything 17 year old Helga knew it would be.

At first the kiss was soft and gentle, his lips merely brushing hers. Then after a little while, Helga felt him retreat slightly and had to forcefully stop herself from chasing after him. But just as his lips left hers, he leaned forward again, pressing his lips more firmly onto hers.

Arnold tilted his head slightly to the right and Helga's eyes flew open when she felt the gentle pressure of his tongue outline the entry at her lips.

 _Breathe! Helga, breathe!_ her mind screamed at her.

At his gentle insistence, she parted her lips and felt a light sweep of his tongue against hers. The bottom of her stomach fell open. _Oh dear lord._

Arnold's hands released hers and she felt his fingers run through her hair and gently pulled her even more firmly toward him. Helga felt as though she was losing her presence of mind and began to worry that her lack of participation may be construed as disinterest.

She ran her fingers lightly up Arnold's back and was surprised to feel him shiver. Empowered by that response, Helga drew him close and kissed him deeply. A breathy groan escaped him and Helga felt a renewed surge of energy. She leaned back slowly, drawing Arnold with her until Helga was propped up against his pillows and he lay atop her.

Shifting uncomfortably, Helga felt something dig into her. Growling against his lips, she reached up behind her back and pulled out a pen, which she then promptly tossed onto the edge of the bed where it slowly rolled off and onto the floor. Adjusting herself to get into a more comfortable position, Helga bent her knees, causing Arnold to settle into its juncture.

And they both instantly froze.

ooooooooooooooooooooox

Arnold Shortman had never been more still in his entire life than on that one uneventful afternoon that led to a series of occurances that Arnold would have sworn previously would never happen.

Neither of them dared to move, their eyes wide open, and their lips frozen in place against each other. And their more personal, quietly private parts pressed together, causing all manner of thought to hone into that one central location.

Arnold's heart raced sporadically, the suggestiveness of their position causing him to feel more than unease. He hadn't been certain when Helga had first made her suggestion, unsure of whether such an act would jeopardize their friendship. But as Helga continued to talk, Arnold had started to find the idea more and more appealing.

She had said that the act would mean nothing, that it would just be something to do to pass the time. But Arnold had known that, while he wasn't sure exactly how he would feel about it, he knew that the act wouldn't mean nothing to him. He liked Helga, he was attracted to her, and she meant a lot to him.

But when their lips met, Arnold felt himself respond in a way that hadn't happened before. While he had a good amount of experience kissing, he had never felt so aware of his partner as he did Helga. When their lips first touched, all other thoughts instantly left him and he found himself pushing forward a little quicker than he had planned, found that he just simply couldn't help himself.

But when they found themselves in the position they were currently in, their intimate contact running both cold and hot waves through his body, he froze, suddenly keenly aware of what they were doing, of what their position was implying.

Arnold wasn't sure what should happen next. He was embarrassed, certain that Helga could feel his response to her and hoping that she would just quietly let it slide. He knew he should stop and probably get up. And he was just thinking of how he could possibly do that without moving too much when he felt it. It was a tiny movement, a tiny sway of her hips.

Arnold froze again, his entire focus on the intimate place where they were pressed together. He must have been mistaken, right? This was Helga, Helga who suggested they make light of something Arnold usually put some weight to, Helga who so nonchalantly made clear that whatever occured was just a natural response to a dull day, Helga, who-.

He felt it again, another slight, tiny movement. Arnold looked down at Helga's face and saw her eyes closed and a look of curious desire on her face. He felt himself immediately respond.

Another slight sway of her hips and Arnold groaned, his eyes closing and he pressed himself into another kiss this time deeper, having let go just a little bit of his inhibitions. He felt her tongue glide against his and then another small sway of her hips. Arnold tentatively responded in kind.

Helga moaned against his lips and so Arnold repeated the motion except this time adding a little bit more pressure as he did so. He felt her hands glide up and down on his back. He pressed deeper toward her when -

"You up there, shortman?" came a voice from the hallway beneath his room.

For the 3rd time that day alone, Arnold froze. He lifted his head to look at Helga, who stared back at him with wide eyes. They could hear Phil grab the chain and yack down to release the stairs. Arnold's eyes widened and he quickly rolled off a Helga just as she started to push him off.

A knock came at his door. Arnold plopped quickly himself down next to Helga, grabbed the nearest book he could find and opened it on his lap, trying to look as nonchalant possible just as the door to his room opened and his grandpa stepped in.

"Hey grandpa," he said, trying hard to control his breathlessness.

Phil gave them a long look. "Hey, there shortman. I see your little friend who used to have the unibrow, is with you. I just wanted to tell you two know that dinner will be ready in 10 minutes."

"Great, thanks."

"So..." Phil said, slowly. "You two were up here just doing homework I see."

Arnold nodded, "yeah, just thought we'd finish it up early this week."

Phil gave them another long look but then slapped his knees and said "Well, alright! Like I said dinner will be ready in 10 minutes. Pookie's cassarole surprise." He turned to Helga, and said, chuckling "And don't ask what the surprise is. Better not to know."

"Thanks grandpa," said Arnold as Phil turned to leave.

"Oh hey, and shortman?" said Phil as he reached Arnold's door.

"Yeah?"

"You might have an easier time doing that homework of yours if your book wasn't upside down."

ooooooooooooooooooooox

 **Writer's Notes:** Hey guys, sorry, didn't have much time to go through the draft so some parts might be a little choppy. Just wanted to publish it tonight otherwise, I would not get to in for a while.

Also I would really really love to hear your thoughts on this one! I don't have any experience in writing these types of scenarios so feedback on this specifically would be really appreciated! Did it seem natural, like something that would happen to the Helga and Arnold we grew up with? Was it too mechanical or was it writing well enough to incite the appropriate emotions?

Also please let me know if you'd like me to do these types of pieces again. Thank you again! As always, love hearing from you guys!


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